


Skate On

by tonks42



Series: Skate On [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Community: kbl-reversebang, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-07 12:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 36,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1899279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonks42/pseuds/tonks42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt Hummel has worked hard to move up in the ranks of competitive figure skaters, but when a scandal with his coach throws him for a loop, Kurt finds himself halfway across the country training alongside fellow skater Blaine Anderson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skate On

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by mizuirokandeya's wonderful artwork. She has been great to work with on this story. Big thanks also go to Tchrgleek for betaing this story, from it's rough post Camp Nano state on.

So far, quad jumps just weren’t in the books for Kurt. He’d practiced and practiced trying to reach that point, but he’d never even hit one of them, let alone enough to feel like he could say it was in his repertoire. The problem was that today? Today he wasn’t even sure he could count on some of his triple jumps. He’d landed triple axels in front of the crowd in Sochi for God’s sake. True, he had fallen on one, but that had been nothing like today.

“Pull it together! You’re not even skating like a lady, Lady. You’re skating like a seven year old girl! Should I wrap you up in a sequined tutu?”

Kurt winced at the sound of his coach’s voice cracking through the ice rink. Every time she yelled, he felt more and more on edge. And he was landing more and more on the wrong edge of his skate. His hip freakin’ hurt where he’d taken a hard fall earlier. Kurt sucked in a long breath, counting to ten and then to twenty in his head. If he could survive the bullies in high school, he could survive the bully that could be his coach. He had no other options, not any that could teach at this rink he drove hours to everyday in Dayton, or at any other in Ohio. Not at the level Kurt competed at, at least.

Kurt collected himself a moment longer as she yelled out, “Try that triple lutz again. Even babies can do that in their sleep! What’s wrong with you, Porcelain?”

Kurt tried his best to tune her out as he picked up speed, trying to get back that feeling of rightness, of home, that he normally had out here in the middle of the ice. He could tell that something was wrong from the moment he took off. He’d felt himself take off on the wrong side of his boot. It was a rookie mistake, or at least one that an Olympian wasn’t supposed to make. And wasn’t that what he was supposed to be even if he hadn’t come home with an individual medal?

His thoughts were jarred out of his head as he made contact with the ice. He’d known his foot was off position, and all his attempts to save the landing failed as he crashed into the ice, right into the same spot on his hip. He’d have a massive bruise there for sure.

He spread his bare hand out on the ice as he could hear the berating begin already. He willed himself not to listen, not to take in any of it. She wasn’t right. He wasn’t hopeless. He wasn’t a failure to himself or his family. He would be like the ice below him. The words might etch into him like the blades of skates, but nothing would truly get through.

With his gaze down on the ice, and hers on him, they both missed the arrival of the next skater, and the cell phone camera he’d taken out, recording the whole thing. This would get him hits for sure.

* * *

 

Blaine patted his hair dry as he walked out of the shower area of the locker room. He’d finished his cardio and strength workout for the day and decided that a shower was in line before his snack. He was teaching a group of elementary age skaters in half an hour. It wouldn’t do to be too stinky or to have his hair too out of place. This was Los Angeles, the land of beautiful people. His students’ parents judged on appearance and not just reputation. Blaine tossed his towel back into the locker he used and grabbed out a tube of gel. A glance at the clock on the wall showed that he had plenty of time left before the class.

Hair firmly back in place, Blaine headed out into the lobby to munch on an apple and some yogurt. A grin spread across his face as he saw a familiar face there. “Jeff! You guys finished with practice early?” He asked as he slid into an empty seat next to his friend.

“Nah. We’re actually on a late schedule today. We’re on ice in an hour, but I had to come in early for a meeting with the coach.” Jeff turned in his seat, sprawling with his legs over the arm of the plastic hair, dangling just over Blaine’s legs.

Blaine shoved at one foot as he tilted his head. “Anything major?”

“Nope.” Jeff shoved long hair out of his face. “Just some notes about my play lately. It’s going well. I think that I might get to start during the summer season.”

“Great.” Blaine didn’t even have to fake the enthusiasm. He’d even watch the league play games for his friends’ sake. Hockey might not be as much his style as figure skating, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be honestly happy for his friend.

“Oh! Did you see this video?” Jeff pulled his phone out of his pocket, pulling up a video ap. “Some other guy skater, like you. It’s all over the internet today.”

“I don’t think so?” Blaine let the phrase become a question as he leaned in over Jeff’s legs to see the small screen. “What skater?”

“Some Kurt guy.” Jeff tapped in a few words to pull up the video, tilting it so that Blaine could see better as it started.

The skater was one that Blaine recognized after just a moment, even in miniature. Kurt Hummel. He’d skated against him in a competition or two. Or maybe more than two. It had been a few years though. Kurt had moved up to the senior division, while Blaine was just making that move. He’d been content to spend the years before as a junior. It had gotten him to the Jr. World Championship even if not the Olympics. Hummel, though. He was one of the skaters Blaine had so admired that had made it to that point. He’d rooted him on in the Olympics a months before from the comfort of his couch.

“See, I figured you might recognize him, considering the number of times you made us watch his video from Sochi, just so you could drool over it,” Jeff teased.

Blaine just rolled his eyes. He was more than used to the teasing comments his friends thought were hilarious by now. Looking back at the open video on the phone, Blaine winced as he watched the skater on the screen fall. It was obvious that this was a private training session. Kurt was in running tights and a sweatshirt, not a costume. It was also obvious that the fall had hurt. Hell, even if not, Blaine would have known. He could feel in his own muscles, the years of remembered bruises from falls such as that one. That wasn’t bad enough though. The video didn’t end with the fall. It seemed to start there as Blaine could hear the yelling of the coach rising in pitch. It was horrible. There was no reason for that kind of temper or those kinds of words to be used against anyone.

Blaine reached out to grab the phone, stopping the video as quickly as he could. He didn’t want to watch anymore. He didn’t want to see anyone treated that way, let alone someone he had admired, and possibly harbored a crush on. “God, that’s horrible.”

“Right? I’d hate for everyone to see that if it was me on there.” Jeff snatched his phone back, not seeming as phased as Blaine felt inside. He wondered for a second if Jeff had ever had that kind of language directed at him, if he had any ability to truly empathize with Hummel. Blaine felt like maybe he had too much. Just seeing that snippet took him right back to his freshman year of high school. He had never had a coach hurl that kind of offensive language at him, but hearing it from the mouths of his peers hadn’t exactly been a pleasant experience, either.

“If you’d hate for people to see that about you, then why are you watching it when it happens to someone else?” Blaine asked with a quick shake of his head. “It’s really that easy to find online?”

“Had a couple hundred thousand hits last I saw,” Jeff said. “Besides, everyone else is watching it.”

“That doesn’t make it right. Think of all the damage it could do to Kurt Hummel’s career. Not to mention all the damage it could do to the reputation of figure skating. What if parents see that and worry that all coaches are that cruel?” Blaine shook his head again as he stood. “I’m going to go grab my skates and warm up. I’ve got a class starting soon. Do me a favor and don’t keep showing off that clip. Please?”

Jeff nodded, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “Sure. Whatever you want. I doubt the team would care anyway. None of us really follow all you twirling types.” Blaine picked up easily on the teasing tone in Jeff’s voice. It loosened up a little bit of the tension that had built inside him. He hoped that getting out on the ice would let the rest of it fade back away.

* * *

 

Blaine sat back into the spin he’d been practicing. Getting the grace of it just right was eluding him. There was something about the speed and fluidity that just didn’t seem perfect. It was good, maybe even great, but Blaine knew that he needed more than that if he wanted to compete on the national stage.

“Can you teach me to do that?” An awed little voice cut into his focus, and Blaine pulled himself out of the spin to see a tow headed seven year old boy watching him with wide eyes.

“If you keep at it, I’ll teach you to do even more someday,” Blaine promised the boy. “Now, why don’t you skate a couple of laps around the Pond to warm up while we wait for the rest of the class to get here?”

* * *

 

“Hey, Burt, isn’t this your boy?”

Burt spun in his office chair to face one of the younger mechanics on his staff. He’d hired the kid, because really anyone under 30 was a just a kid at this point, a few months before. He was good with cars and hearing what he had to say was probably far more interesting than balancing the damn books. Burt’s eyes were already starting to blur from staring at so many columns of numbers.

“Isn’t what my boy?” Burt asked curiously. “Kurt up to something?”

The mechanic tilted his phone over and then paused mid action. “Can I use your computer? It might be easier to see this full screen.”

“Kurt’s on the internet?” Burt slid the office chair off the side, letting the other man get closer to the computer, an open invitation to pull up the website. “This another video of his skating?”

“I wish,” the younger mechanic muttered. “Remember what they say about not shooting the messenger alright? I didn’t enjoy it. I just got sent it and thought you should see it.”

Burt’s shoulders tightened at those words. He reached over to hit play as the other man slipped out of the room as quickly as possible. Burt couldn’t believe what he was seeing on the computer screen. Surely if that coach was treating Kurt this way, he would have said something.

Burt could feel his cheeks flush and his pulse pick up as the woman continued ranting. There was no excuse ever for someone to talk to his boy that way. Who did she think that she was? That was it. Kurt was going to have to find a different coach. There was no way he was letting his son anywhere near this woman ever again.

* * *

 

“So, how has training been going?” Burt started off with the question as he settled across from his son at their dining room table that night.

Kurt scooped the chicken and rice dish he had made onto his plate. “Alright. I’m still fighting with landing a quad. I just don’t get why I can’t seem to get the rotation right. Everyone says that it will come though.”

Burt nodded along, poking at his food with his fork. Alright didn’t seem to cover anything he’d seen on that video today. “And how is Coach Sue? You settling back into a routine now that you’re back from putting stamps in your passport?”

“We’re settling back in, I suppose. We’ve been talking about possible ideas for new short and long programs. Practicing skills to add. That sort of thing.” Kurt turned in his chair to face his father more fully. After staring at the older man for a moment he asked, “What’s up with all the questions?”

“Can’t I just be interested in your life?” Burt asked in reply. “I am your father.”

“You can be plenty interested without grilling me over dinner. When was the last time you asked questions instead of just listening to my tales from the rink?” Kurt fired back. Burt could practically see the defensive walls come up and surround his son.

“Hey, hey. I didn’t mean to grill you. And I ask plenty of questions.” It was becoming clear that how ever much he wanted Kurt to just open up to him, Kurt didn’t seem to want to do the same. “I was just asking because, well, one of the guys at the shop showed me this video.”

“Video?” Kurt looked totally dumbfounded, and that just made it harder. He’d figured that his boy knew about this whole video thing, even if he hadn’t told him.

“Up on that YouTube thing, I think. Anyway, it was you and your coach. She was saying some things that I didn’t appreciate hearing. She do that often?” Straight to the point was the best way to keep Kurt from evading things. Years of parenting his son had taught Burt that lesson.

“Sometimes.” Kurt still tried to temporize. “I’ve gotten used to it. It’s no big deal.” The way he evaded catching Burt’s eyes though told his father that it probably was a bigger deal than his son was letting on.

“It’s a big deal to me,” Burt decided. “I don’t want you training with that woman anymore. It wasn’t alright for people to talk to you that way in high school, and it’s not alright for Sue to do it now. It’s time to find you a new coach.”

Kurt let out a frustrated sigh. “There are no new coaches here. I can’t train with just anyone, not if I want to keep improving. I want medals and podiums. No one else in Ohio is going to be able to help me reach that level.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be in Ohio anymore.” Burt held up a hand to stop the retort he could see that his son was about to make. “I’ve felt that way since you graduated high school. But then you were getting ready for the Olympics. Made me so proud to see you go out there and skate such a strong program, to see you come home with that team medal. But you don’t belong here. Probably never have, to be honest. Maybe we should find you a new coach somewhere that you don’t have to reign in your style.”

Kurt sank back into his chair, food seemingly forgotten as he listened. “I’m not saying that I want to stay in Ohio, but I’m not sure about leaving, either. I’m not sure I’m ready to leave you and Carole after-” Kurt cut himself off mid-sentence, but Burt knew what he’d been ready to refer to. Finn’s passing had hit all of them hard. “And it would be expensive. It is expensive already, and I can live here, save money on rent.”

“We’ll figure out the money,” Burt insisted. He was really getting on a roll. As much as he’d miss having his son around every day, this seemed more and more like the best thing for Kurt the longer he thought about it. “You sell clothes now, and you can do that wherever you go. The garage is doing well. You’ve got support from that skating group. We’ll use some of the money in your college account if it comes down to it. We’ll manage.”

“I do plan to finish someday, even if it’s still just a few classes a semester,” Kurt mused. “I don’t - I don’t even know how to start looking. How will I tell Sue?”

“Leave that to me, if you’d like. I’d be more than happy to give her a piece of my mind. I’m not so sure about finding a new coach though. Can you just Google that sort of thing?” Burt stood as the phone began to ring. Kurt always told him that keeping a landline was old fashioned, but he and Carole both maintained that it was a necessity. He stepped into the kitchen to grab it off the counter.

A minute later he turned back to the dining room. “Kurt? It’s for you. It’s one of the figure skating guys.” He passed off the cordless handset on the way back to his seat, not at all worried about Kurt realizing that he was listening in.

“Yes, this is Kurt speaking.”

“No. I haven’t seen it. I- my father was just telling me about it. Someone showed it to him at work.”

“Oh God. It’s that day?” Kurt shot a look back at his father and stood. Clearly he was done with having someone listen in to everything they were saying. “My father and I were just talking about that actually. I’m not sure how I would go about-”

Burt heard the words trail off as Kurt walked up the stairs toward his bedroom. He really did want to hear what was going on. Maybe Kurt would be enticed to tell him more over a mug of warm milk later or to open up to Carole. He’d suggest she ask Kurt to help her pick out a new outfit the next time they were both free. There. That would work, and then she could report back to him. He’d rely on just about any tactic to make sure that his son was safe and happy.

* * *

 

Kurt tugged on the laces of his skates nervously. Making sure that they were nice and tight might not do anything to calm his nerves, but at least it was something that could keep his hands busy.

“Kurt? Kurt Hummel?”

Kurt looked up at the man calling out his name. He stood on his skates, plastic guards protecting the blades. “You must be Mr. Wilson?” Kurt offered out his hand politely as he sized the other man up. He was a similar height to Kurt, but more solidly build. He looked to be in about his mid to upper forties, with a receding hairline, grey starting to streak through light brown hair, and the beginning of a soft belly.

“Please, just call me Alexander, or Alex even.” He gave Kurt’s hand a firm shake. His eyes were a warm brown, and his smile was friendly and welcoming. Kurt wanted to like him, but experience told him this might all be just a public act.

Kurt’s eyes fluttered up to the window set high up into the wall. He knew that his father was up there in a warm room, watching. He was twenty. He wasn’t supposed to need that reassurance anymore, but that didn’t make it feel any less good. “It’s nice to meet you.”  He forced a smile onto his face, even if he didn’t really feel it deep inside.

“So, this is how I envision today going. First I’d like to see you skate. Did you bring music?” Alexander paused to wait for Kurt’s nod of affirmation at that. “Perfect. Finish stretching if you need to and warm up on the ice. I’ll get the music set. I’d also like to sit down off the ice and talk. If this is going to work, we need to be on the same page. This is not just a chance for me to decide if I want to take you on. It’s also a chance for you to decide if this is the right fit for you. Sound alright?”

Kurt nodded his head, fishing the flash drive with his music out of the pocket of the fitted workout jacket he was wearing. “That sounds - good.”

“Look, I’m not going to lie and say that I never saw that video. Or that I didn’t talk to U.S. Figure Skating about this whole thing. I’ve known Sue for years. I’m not her. Take a few deeps breaths and go warm up. Trust that things will work out one way or the other.”

Kurt took the advice, focusing on his breathing for a moment before he reached down to pull the guards off his skates. He slid out onto the ice, glancing one more time around the rink. It was hard to really believe that this might end up being his new home, because he knew the ice would become as much his home as whatever apartment he might rent. It all seemed like such a rush.

He skated easily around the rink, warming up with a few easy spins and jumps. His movements were almost automatic as he let his mind wander. Things had progressed so quickly. One minute his father had been telling him about the video and the next he’d been on the phone with an official from U.S. Figure Skating finding out just how many people around the world had seen it. He still hadn’t forced himself to watch it. He’d lived through the embarrassing situation the first time. He had no desire to see it all happen again. He knew that U.S. Figure Skating was still investigating the whole thing. This trip had been part of his agreement with them. They’d practically demanded that not only he find a new coach, but that he’d let them have a hand in finding him one. Kurt had given in quickly to that. It was honestly a relief to put that duty in someone else’s hands.

When he’d gotten the call (far from the second one he’d received from U.S. Figure Skating that week), Kurt had been more than a little bit shocked to find out what they had in mind. They’d set up a meeting between him and freaking Alexander Wilson, the man who had coached some of the most famous skaters of the last dozen years. Someone he still couldn’t believe would be possibly interested in coaching him. Wilson had a reputation for being one of the best coaches in the world. He was definitely a coach that could help Kurt master the moves he needed to add to his program and to tighten up the whole thing.

The only problem? Alexander lived in the Los Angeles area. His father had insisted that Kurt take the opportunity, and that he have the chance to meet this new coach. That had found them here, with Kurt coming to a stop in the middle of the ice in this rink, only a few miles from LAX.

Kurt heard the music from his last free skate start to well up over the speakers and struck the opening pose on instinct. He pushed the worries that had cropped up from all this potential change out of his mind and focused on the music and on the feel of his muscles stretching and pulling in a familiar pattern. He’d practiced this routine enough times that sometimes he thought he could skate it in his sleep. He let himself fall into the physical pattern and let the music work through him. When everything fell into the right groove, sometimes Kurt swore that he could feel the music all the way down into his bones.

* * *

 

Burt settled the sports section of the L.A. Times into his lap as he saw his son glide out to center ice. He’d claimed a nicely padded chair in this room, so much warmer than sitting down by the ice, and it had a large window with a view over the rink. It felt a little bit like spying, but Burt rather relished the chance to watch Kurt. He still might not understand all the small details of skating, but he’d learned a lot since his son became obsessed with the sport in Kindergarten. He also just knew his boy well enough to see the exact moment where Kurt fell into the skating and lost himself in the choreography.

Burt was always a little bit in awe of the way his son skated. When Kurt found his groove, he made everything seem so natural and easy. From the few times Burt had laced on skates over the years and let Kurt try to teach him, he knew only too well that it wasn’t either of those things. His gaze was pulled away from the window as two young men closer to his son’s age walked into the room chatting. Burt gave them a quick look. The blond was dressed in a pair of loose athletic shorts and a tank top, slightly shaggy hair pushed away from this face. The shorter man had dark hair practically glued to his head with a firm coating of gel. He was still dressed in street clothes, a button down shirt with a plaid bowtie.

“You’re looking for a roommate? I thought you and Cooper only had two bedrooms.” The blond trailed behind his friend as the one with the bowtie walked over toward a bulletin board that covered part of one wall, full of notices and fliers.

“Cooper finally has a steady gig. That soap opera signed him on for another year. He decided to rent an apartment closer to where it shoots.” He tacked a page up to the board. Burt could see that the bottom was cut into slips to tear off. “Apparently living with his little brother was also ‘cramping his style with the ladies’.”

“Really?” The blond laughed. “I would have thought it could do him good. ‘See my little brother, Blaine? I stepped in and raised him. Doesn’t that make you want me?’” The last part was obviously a good enough impression to make the other man, Blaine, laugh.

“Oh, God. That sounds like something Coop would say. As if he ever actually raised me. Had a high school roommate is more like it.” Blaine stepped back to look at his paper on the notice board. “I thought I’d list it here, though. At least another skater would understand my life.” Blaine paced over toward the window leaning against the glass after a quick smile and nod of public greeting to Burt. After a quick glance at the ice, his head popped up. “Hey, Jeff. Come look. Alex has someone down on the ice.”

“You say that like it’s rare.” Jeff glanced down at the ice. “Oh. Hey. You mean not one of Alex’s normal crew.”

Blaine fell silent for a moment, and Burt trained his attention down on the ice as well. Alex and Kurt were center ice deep in conversation. Kurt pushed off for a moment picking up speed on the ice to twirl into one of those dizzyingly fast spins. He forced himself not to look up and show that he was listening as Blaine sighed. “I wish I could pull that off as well.” He pushed away from the glass to start back out of the room, Jeff at his side like a puppy. “That’s Hummel down there. I wonder what he’s doing here?”

Burt gave them a minute or two to be fully out of the room and then walked over to look at the flier.

Looking for roommate to share two bedroom condo.

Private bedroom/shared bathroom

El Segundo address

$600 a month, utilities included

Call for more details.

Burt ripped off one of the strips along the bottom with a phone number on it. If this went well, Kurt would need to find a place to live here. Talking to this Blaine seemed like an idea to consider at least. He was assuming from his eavesdropping, and the fact that the kid was at a ice rink in a bowtie, that Blaine was probably a figure skater, too. That’d give them something in common, and it would be far cheaper than Kurt renting an apartment for himself.

* * *

 

 

Kurt unlaced his skates as he settled on the bench rinkside. He pulled a pair of sneakers out of his bag, changing over as he worked to catch his breath.

“Where’s your water bottle?” Alex asked as he made his way back to Kurt’s side, tossing his flash drive of music over at him.

“In my bag,” Kurt admitted sheepishly with a wince. He stopped, one shoe half off to grab it out, taking a long drink of water. He hated that instant instinct to do whatever a coach told him, but sometimes it wasn’t worth fighting it. Not when there could be consequences he didn’t want to deal with. He didn’t know Alex well enough yet to risk what might happen if he made him mad.

“Make sure you stay hydrated. Cardinal rule around here.” Alex straddled the bench next to Kurt with a quick smile to take any bite out of his words. “But that didn’t mean you couldn’t finish putting on your shoes. Wouldn’t do to have your toes freeze off.”

Kurt opened his mouth wanting to point out that the rink wasn’t nearly that cold before he let it snap shut, reaching down to tug the shoe the rest of the way on. He wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. Was it a joke? It had to be.

“So, I can see that one of my challenges in this is going to be teaching you that you can relax around me,” Alex pondered softly. “We’ll work on that. So, down to the nitty gritty. You have amazing artistry in your skating. You’re very graceful, and I can tell you really feel the music. My goal with you would be to keep those qualities while we sharpen up some of the technical aspects and work on nailing a few more jumps. Sound about right?”

Kurt nodded as he twisted around the cap of his water bottle absently. “That sounds like what I think I need to work on, too. I feel like I’ll never be able to be truly competitive until I get at least one quad jump down.”

“We’ll get you there,” Alex promised. “You’re what, twenty? Definitely doable.” He stood up, pushing off the long wooden bench with his hands. “What would you say to a tour of the facility here while we talk? It’ll give us a chance to discuss conditioning plans and what I expect from skaters I train.”

Kurt tucked his skates down into his bag, settling the black duffel over his shoulder as he stood. “That sounds fine.”

“This is the best ice training facility in the L.A. area in my opinion,” Alex commented as he started out of the rink. “There are three different rinks. One is dedicated to hockey, so we’re unlikely to ever really use that one for training. The Kings use this as their practice facility and there are several league play levels, so you will see a lot of hockey players around. We’ve always coexisted well. There’s this one that’s Olympic sized. This is where we’ll train whenever it’s free. Then there’s a slightly smaller one called the Pond. It’s used a lot for community groups and lessons for younger and less experienced skaters.”

“That’s a lot of ice space.” Kurt held the door open politely, trying to make enough small talk so that Alex knew he was listening.

“It is. Have you ever met with a nutritionist?” Alex waited for Kurt’s nod before he continued. “Good. I insist that all my competitive skaters do. I have a few that I’ll recommend for you to choose from. A proper diet is key to fueling your body, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have the occasional group pizza party.”

“Do you coach any other-” Kurt paused part way through the question, not sure that he should really be asking too much. What if Alex didn’t take kindly to being questioned?

“Any other?” Alex stopped to look over to Kurt. He raised his eyebrows as he waited.

“Any other male skaters,” Kurt finished.

“Good. Don’t be afraid to ask me questions. I promise that I will never snap just because you’re curious.” He started to walk on again. “I have two other male skaters that I’m training right now. One of them is younger, only thirteen, I just took him on six months or so ago. The other one, Blaine, is about your age. So yes, I will be coaching one of your competitors. I’d like to think of myself as a neutral party whenever you do compete. I will be helping both of you be the absolute best skater you can be. Then I’ll cheer both of you on.”

“It might be nice,” Kurt ventured. “Since I started really moving up the levels, I haven’t trained at the same rink as anyone else in my level, even in women’s or pair’s.”

“Well, for good or for bad, you would certainly get that here. My only other current senior level competitor is Blaine, but there are others training here.” He pushed open the door to a large room. “This is the gym, obviously.” Alex led the way in amongst weight training equipment toward a row of cardio machines. “I will set up a weight training schedule for you, and I expect off-ice cardio time everyday. You can do that here, but if you prefer other arrangements for the cardio time, that’s fine. I know Blaine sometimes prefers to swim or run on the beach.”

“I was expecting that.” Kurt glanced out the bank of windows in front of the stationary bikes to see one of the ice rinks. He wasn’t entirely sure which one there were above by now. It would take some time to learn the layout of this place. “I also like to start the day with yoga.”

“Perfect. That’s good for flexibility. We’d start you there, and possibly add in some dance training if necessary. You’ve had some, yes? You skate like it.”

“I stopped taking classes when I started high school, but I’d taken ballet since I was three, up until that point,” Kurt admitted. His gaze caught on a man about his age. He had dark brown hair that was starting to escape a coating of gel and quite a nice ass. Kurt couldn’t help but notice it in the running tights the man was wearing, not when he had a full backside view.

Alex followed Kurt’s gaze for a moment and smiled. “Oh, he’s here. Give me one second.”

Kurt couldn’t hear anything Alex said as he walked over to tap the man on the arm. Earbuds were taken out and a quiet conversation happened before the other young man grabbed a water bottle from the handlebars of the machine gulping back some water as he walked over beside Alex. Blaine Anderson. It only took Kurt a moment to place him. They’d met before, but only really in passing. He’d seen video of him at this year’s Jr. World’s, though. He’d done quite well.

“Kurt Hummel, I’d like you to meet Blaine Anderson.” Alex smiled between the two of them. “Kurt’s thinking about coming to train here.”

“We’ve met.” Blaine spoke up as he offered out his hand. “Right? I think it’s been a few years though.”

“I believe so.” Kurt took Blaine’s hand, giving it a quick, polite shake. “We’ve competed against each other, haven’t we?”

“Until you took the jump up to Seniors. I’m just making it now. This year’s Jr. World’s was my last junior event, I hope.” Blaine reached up to try to fix his gelled hair, self consciously. “I should get back to my workout, but it was nice to see you again, Kurt.”

“Likewise. I hope that you have a good workout.” Kurt turned away as Alex led them back out of the room.

“So, let me help you find your way back to the locker room. After you change, we can meet back up with your father, talk about the timelines and details of how this would work, if you choose to come train here.”

“You’d take me on?” Kurt asked, feeling a little bit light headed at the possibility. He felt like he’d never really believed that Alexander Wilson would want to train him, not deep inside.

“Of course. Kurt, you placed second at Nationals, you skate beautifully, and you seem like a nice enough young man. Why wouldn’t I want to take you on?”

* * *

 

Burt was waiting for him when Kurt came back out of the locker room dressed back in street clothes, or at least the skinny jeans and rich purple button down shirt that Kurt considered street clothes. Kurt couldn’t help but smile at his father. It was nice to see a familiar face when he was surrounded by all of this unknown.

“So, how did it go?” Burt asked as he pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning on as he waited.

“Really well, I think. He said that he wants to coach me,” Kurt replied. “Were you watching?”

“From a much warmer room with a great view. And of course he’d want to coach you. You always amaze me with all that stuff you can do on the ice.” Burt gave Kurt’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Not that you're at all biased.” Kurt smiled up at his father. As many times as he’d tried to convince himself that at twenty he shouldn’t need comfort from his father, he’d never stopped appreciating it.

“Of course I am. Doesn’t mean it’s not true.” Burt glanced off down the corridor at the sound of distant voices. “So, what are the next steps? You going to accept his offer?”

Kurt nodded shakily. “I think I am. It’s a big move, but how can I pass up the chance to work with Alexander Wilson? And yes, before you ask, he was very nice to me.”

Burt smiled over to his son. “You can read my mind. So, we just need to work through the next steps.”

“Right. Wilson, er, Alexander wants to meet with us to talk about timelines and finances, I’d expect. Then I need to work on finding a job and a place to live.”

“Oh. I might be able to help with one of those.” At his son’s curious look, Burt continued, “While I was watching you skate someone came in to post an add about looking for a roommate. He was a skater, I think, and about your age.” Burt fished the tab he’d torn off the flier out of his pocket and offered it to Kurt.

Kurt stared at the name and number on it for a moment. “Blaine Anderson? I’m not so sure how I’d feel about living with the competition. He’s the other high level skater Alexander coaches. Sharing a coach might already be enough of a conflict of interest.”

“Well, he seemed nice enough when he was putting up the ad. Maybe you should just call him and give it a chance. If you decide it’s not a good idea, I’ll support you in that, and we can find you another place to live.” Burt gave his watch a quick glance, checking the time. “Now, you said that Wilson wants to see us? Lets not keep him waiting too long.”

* * *

 

Kurt glanced up at the man across from him, watching Blaine mix together the ingredients in his taco salad. He wasn’t sure where to start the conversation, but it didn’t seem like Blaine was going to pick it up either. They’d arranged this dinner at a Chipotle near the rink after Kurt had called about the roommate ad.

Kurt picked at his salad for a moment more before he spoke up, not comfortable with the silence any longer. “So, you’re looking for a roommate?”

“I am. I’ve been living with my brother for the last five years in a condo here in El Segundo that technically belongs to my parents.” Blaine dropped his fork to turn his attention to the conversation. “Since he’d got a more steady job and I’m not longer a minor, Coop’s moving out.”

“So it would be just you living there? Besides me or whoever you rent to?” Kurt stabbed his fork into a piece of lettuce, taking his perpetual nervousness at the thought of moving across country out on the poor plant. “No other roommates?”

“Nope,” Blaine replied. “It would be a tight squeeze for more than two people in that space. I’ll be honest that it’s not the biggest unit. It’s right around 850 square feet, but the location makes up for it. It’s close to the rink and not far from the beach. I won’t worry about telling you that the school district sold my parents on it, since both of us are out of high school.”

Kurt nodded, unsure what to really think about all that information. The beach? That didn’t seem all that important, not compared to proximity to where he’d be training. Not having to drive more than an hour to the rink in Dayton every day would be a nice change. “It’s two bedrooms, right? So I’d have a private bedroom?”

“You would, but we’d need to share a bathroom.” Blaine reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. “I took some pictures just in case anyone called that wanted them texted.” He pulled up the right set of photos and passed the phone to Kurt.

Kurt quietly flipped through the series. The place was not the most modern, but the living areas seemed clean and neat, at least from the photos. The kitchen was small but uncluttered, with dated, honey oak cabinets that were all the rage 20 years ago.

Blaine winced as Kurt flipped to a picture of a messy bedroom, with a pile of dirty clothes in the corner and beer cans over taking a side table. “That’s Cooper’s room. I promise that it will be nice and clean before you would move in. I plan to clean the carpets and everything.”

Kurt glanced up to meet Blaine’s eyes. “So the cleanliness of the rest of the place is you? Or just for the photos?”

“I like things clean and organized, if that’s what you’re asking.” Blaine met his gaze with a quick smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

“Good. I mean, I don’t think I could live with a slob.” Kurt offered the phone back over. “It looks like a nice place.”

“It’s not the fanciest place out there, but it works.” Blaine paused glancing down at the table as he thought. “I’ve never had a roommate I wasn’t related to before.”

“Me, either,” Kurt admitted. “We’d have to set some ground rules then, right? Find out what will make everything run smoothly.”

“Right. Can we start by agreeing that we’d sit down and talk about anything that isn’t going well? Instead of letting it stew until we snap at each other?” Blaine asked.

“Rule one. Can rule two be that we leave the competition at the rink? Not that we can’t talk about ice skating at home, but that when we walk through the door, we stop being competitors.”

“I like that. So we have rules one and two. We’ll figure out the rest.” Blaine offered a hand out to Kurt to shake in a formal gesture of agreement. “I’d like to officially offer you the opportunity to be my roommate, if you choose to accept.”

Kurt bit back laughter at the phrasing Blaine had chosen, taking the other man’s hand. “I accept.” He let out a whoosh of breath. “I’m really doing this. Moving all the way out here, starting over.”

* * *

 

 

**SkateFan97**

Have you heard the news? It sounds like Kurt Hummel is leaving Ohio in the wake of the YouTube scandal.

 

**IceDance**

No way! Kurt’s been skating in Ohio forever.

 

**BladeRunner24**

SkateFan’s right! Check out this article for proof and everything (x). It says that Kurt was seen in Los Angeles last week, visiting Alexander Wilson. That means he’s looking for a new coach, right? I bet we’ll find out he’s skating in L.A. now. I mean, every skater would kill for the chance to work with Wilson, right?

And here’s a song to keep you on the right track: (x)

 

**SkateFan97**

I hope it does, but Taylor Swift? Really? I still can’t believe how mean Sylvester was in that video. It was pretty shocking. Kurt is one of my favorite current skaters (because we all know my deep, abiding love is still Johnny Weir), and I’d hate to know that he’s just putting up with that kind of thing. Besides, I’d like to move to So Cal, especially if it meant a chance to see Kurt out on the beach. I’d have no problem pretending to drown, if it meant he’d save me.

Damn you, Blade, I now have Taylor Swift stuck in my head. “Someday, I’ll be living in a big old city, and all you’re ever going to be is mean.” Take that Sylvester.

* * *

 

It had taken several more weeks to iron out all the details. Kurt had taken the time to sort through his bedroom, deciding what he would need for the move, even as he got increasingly antsy to get back into a real training pattern. Driving down to the Lima Ice Center by himself just wasn’t the same. By this point, Kurt knew that he should have been working with a coach and a choreographer on next year’s programs. Instead, he was running through the parks of Lima and trying to push away the fear of the unknown with every footstep that pounded into the pavement.

The first of June found Kurt packing everything he wanted to take to L.A. into the Civic he’d been driving since he was sixteen. He’d already been traveling to Dayton on a daily basis by that point, and fuel economy had won out over the larger automobile he might have wanted. The trunk and the back seat were full to overflowing by the time Kurt was finished, and even then it was only personal belongings Kurt was bringing. There was no way he’d fit furniture in the small car.

Kurt settled the last box, some of his favorite DVDs, into the backseat. He slumped against the door after he’d closed it, one hand pressed to the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath.

“Got it all to fit?”

Kurt looked up at the sound of his father’s words and nodded, taking a moment to find his voice. “If it isn’t in there, it’s not going.”

Burt stepped up next to his son, clapping a hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “Nervous?”

“Terrified.” Kurt let out a soft sigh. “If you asked me two years ago, I would have told you that I couldn’t wait to get out of here, but what if…”

“The world is always going to be full of what ifs. It’s natural to be scared. This is a big change. Just don’t let it hold you back. You’re so much bigger than this place. You always have been.” Burt gave Kurt’s shoulder a squeeze. “Promise me you won’t live all the time in that rink. See the city. Don’t get yourself in trouble, but take the time to live.”

Kurt flashed a smile at Burt. “I’ll try. It’s not like I have any friends there.”

“And who do you have here?” Kurt winced at his father’s blunt words. “You’ll meet more people like you there. Plus, that Blaine kid seemed pretty nice.”

“Blaine’s the competition. Can’t get too close,” Kurt insisted. He pushed himself off the car to stand tall. “I wish you were coming with me tomorrow.”

“I wish I was, too. But Al’s wife is due to have that baby any day. I can’t leave the shop.”

“Then Carole and I will just have to have a fabulous trip without you.” Kurt started toward the front door. “This is the last dinner I’ll cook you for awhile. Any requests?”

* * *

 

Four days in a car together can either strengthen a bond or make you want to commit murder, Kurt decided. He was mostly leaning toward the first in this case. Carole had proven to be a good road trip companion through eight to ten hours a day of driving, food he’d never eat on a regular basis, and lots of lots of desert. The bluffs of New Mexico had been beautiful at first. By the time they crossed from Arizona into California, he hoped to never see one again.

Sing-alongs of 80s music and show tunes could only last so long, and Kurt had never been good at napping in moving vehicles. At least reading didn’t make him carsick, unlike Carole. They traded off the driving every few hours, leaving Carole behind the wheel and Kurt navigating as they pulled into the Los Angeles area.

It was over an hour later before they finally got to the city limits of El Segundo. “The GPS on my phone says that we should take a left at the next corner then drive ahead a mile.”

“Turning left. Have you seen the actual apartment yet?” Carole asked as she turned the corner.

“Not yet, but Blaine showed me pictures, and then emailed me more after his brother moved out. I think it’s in this building on the left.” He stared over at the stucco building. The architecture seemed so different here than his neighborhood in Ohio. Newer, stucco townhomes and the large condo building they were driving to lined the street. Smaller mid-century houses filled in the gaps between them.

Carole fell quiet as the roar of a plane could be heard throughout the car. “So, that’ll be a new sound to get used to.”

“I know. I invested in some really good earplugs.” Kurt looked down at his phone. “I think he’s on the far end of the building. I guess that living near the airport must have made the condo more affordable at least.”

“I’m sure it did. You know, my first apartment was one bedroom shared by three of us. The heat cut out half the time, but all of us were so glad to be away from our parents that we hardly minded.” Carole pulled the car into an empty parking spot.

“Is that your way of telling me it’s past time to spread my wings and fly out of the nest?” Kurt asked with a quick grin over.

“No. It’s been really nice having you at home the last year, especially since- I do think that this will be good for you, though. Open yourself up. Make friends with people who understand you. Have a good time.”

“Just not too good of a time?” Kurt joked. “Now you’re sounding like Dad.”

* * *

 

Moving everything from the car up into the apartment took up the rest of the afternoon. Blaine had offered to help, and Kurt appreciated it. He didn’t want to put too much strain on Carole, but moving that many boxes by himself again, up two flights of stairs this time, wasn’t something he had been looking forward to.

When they were finished, he stood in the middle of the room, looking at the stack of boxes and the suitcase pushed up against the wall. There was no furniture in the room, but it was still nice to look around the space and know that it was his. He’d be paying the rent for it, at least. Carole and Burt had insisted on buying some basic furniture as a ‘housewarming’ gift. Kurt rather suspected that it was more of a ‘glad to have you out of the house’ gift. That would be the first thing on the list tomorrow. He and Carole planned to buy a bed and a dresser at least, maybe a bookshelf or a desk. They’d have to see what they could find for not too much money. For now, an air mattress on the floor would have to be good enough.

He could hear Carole talking to Blaine in the living room. He let the noise wash over him as he moved to look out the window. The condo was a third floor walk up, which would be a good bit of exercise on days he wasn’t sore, and a small amount of torture on the times he managed to pull a muscle or twist his knee. Out the window, there was a sea of roofs as far as he could see. Toward the left he could see the edge of the airport, a runway surrounded by gravel. Kurt forced himself to step away from the window. He needed to get back out into the living room before Carole started to worry about him. The last thing he wanted to do at this point was cause her any worry. If anything, he hoped that this trip was a chance to step away from the shroud of grief that surrounded her so often.

“So, I was thinking that we could make salmon for dinner. How do you feel about that?” Blaine was asking Carole as Kurt pushed the door open.

“I love salmon,” Kurt said, stepping fully into the room. The condo had an open floor plan. The bedrooms opened off of opposite walls. A bay of glass doors at the other end of the room led out to a balcony overlooking the community pool. The kitchen was set beside the glass doors on the opposite end of the open space from the couch Carole and Blaine were sitting on, with a dining table set in the middle. It was all very functional. It might not have been Kurt’s sense of style, but the furniture was comfortable, homey.

“Great.” Blaine gave Kurt a tight smile. “Do you want to steam some vegetables with it? Maybe cut up some fruit?” He pushed off the couch to stand.

“I can help,” Carole offered, a warm smile on her face. “If you want to do the cooking, I can do the chopping.”

Kurt watched the pair move into the small kitchen as he wandered behind, settling into a seat at the wooden dining table. It was clear that Blaine had quickly won Carole over, but he wasn’t quite so ready to trust. It had made sense in a way, moving in with one of his fellow skaters. They’d be worried about sticking to the same kind of diet and dealing with the same kind of hours and balance between intense training and the other parts of life, like the job Kurt would need to find soon so that he didn’t exhaust his college fund on this endeavor.

On the other hand, living with a direct competitor was a little bit nerve wracking. They might have agreed to leave the competition at the door, but that didn’t mean that they actually would. He didn’t really know Blaine, and here he was being put in a position where he was forced to trust the other skater. It was uncomfortable. Trust was something that he didn’t give easily. Too many things in life had told him that that was a horrible idea.

“So, Blaine, do you go to school out here?”

Kurt forced himself back to the present as Carole’s source of conversation caught his ears.

“I’m not taking any classes this summer, but during the school year, I’ve been studying part time at the area community college. Last semester I had classes two days a week. That fit pretty well with the schedule of everything else.” Blaine set out the cutting board and a knife for Carole as he talked.

“Oh? What are you studying?” Carole split a cantaloupe down the middle, grabbing a spoon Blaine offered to scoop the insides into the trash can.

“Photography, mainly. I’ve taken a couple classes in business and education as well. Skating won’t last forever you know, so I’ve been considering careers for afterward. I’m thinking of either becoming a photographer or possibly becoming a skating coach.” Blaine’s tone was polite, the kind of voice you might use talking to relatives you hadn’t seen in years.

“I hope you find something you love,” Carole turned to give Kurt a quick look. “Have you considered what you’ll do about college next year?”

“Dad and I decided that I’d take a year off. Then I’d be in state, and know more what I can juggle with my schedule out here. I’m going to start looking for a job as soon as I can instead.” Kurt watched Blaine move confidently around the kitchen for a moment before he commented, “You know how to cook.”

“It was a necessity to survival,” Blaine joked. “I moved out here to live with my brother when I was fourteen, so that I could train with Alex. It was just Coop and I, and Coop barely knows how to boil water. So…”

“So you had to learn?” Carole finished with a quick shake of her head. “I can’t imagine sending my child off to the other side of the country so young.” Kurt caught the flash of grief over her face. She had to be thinking the same thing he was, she’d never have the chance to worry about Finn moving far away.

“It was the best decision for a number of reasons, not just training.” Blaine left it at that as he glanced into the cupboard. “How about some rice with this?”

* * *

 

“Thank you for offering Carole your bed.” Kurt said quietly as Blaine carried a pile of blankets and pillows over to the couch.

“Oh, I’ve slept on the couch many times. It’s pretty comfortable,” Blaine said as he sank down to sit on the cushions, setting the pile beside him. “It was no problem.”

“It’s still a nice thing to do.” Kurt perched on the edge of the arm chair, arms crossed over his stomach, closing himself off.

Blaine shrugged, “I like your mom. She’s nice.”

“Stepmom,” Kurt corrected. “And she is. I’m glad she and my dad met.”

Blaine nodded in response. Silence stretched awkwardly through the room before he broke it with stilted words, “I was thinking about putting in a movie. Do you want to join me?”

Kurt considered it for a moment before he shook his head. “I should go get some sleep. I think I’m still on Eastern Time.”

“Alright, well, I hope you sleep well.” Blaine gave Kurt a quick smile before he just sighed. “This is pretty awkward isn’t it?”

“Isn’t what?”

“Moving in with someone you barely know.” Blaine shook his head. “I guess people do it all the time when they go away to college. They make it work, right?”

“Most of the time.” Kurt couldn’t help but remember a high school classmate’s Facebook story of her roommate bringing people over for sex at all times of the day and night. “I don’t know how we make it less awkward. I guess we just go on with life and hope it starts to feel normal.”

“I hope so. Sleep well, and don’t worry about waking me up if you guys are up first. Getting up early will be good for me. I have a busy day tomorrow, and I want to get a run in before it gets too warm.”

Kurt nodded. “I’ll remember that. I hope you sleep well, Blaine.”

* * *

 

By noon the next day, the back of Kurt’s car was full of boxes of furniture from Target in need of putting together. The cheap furniture would be good enough for now, Kurt had decided. He could always find some interesting things at thrift stores to spice it up.

Carole had agreed that a bed wasn’t something they just wanted to go with the cheapest option on, though. A good night’s sleep was too important. They’d found a large furniture store within a short drive and gone inside to test out the possibilities. They needed to make sure that whatever bed they found was comfortable.

“This one’s too hard. I feel like Goldilocks. Too soft. Too hard.” Kurt sat up from the mattress he was testing, not giving it any more time. He was sure that it wasn’t right.

“Come try this one,” Carole sank back onto a queen sized bed. “I could definitely take a nap on here right now. Maybe it will be just right.”

Kurt bounced a bit on the edge of it before he sprawled onto his back next to Carole. “This one I could do. Soft enough to be comfortable, but I don’t feel like I’m sinking into it.”

“So we’ll make this the top of our list then.” Neither of them moved after Carole spoke, letting the silence stand for a moment as they stared up at the ceiling. “Maybe we should get you a queen.”

“We picked out bedding for a full,” Kurt reminded her. “We’d have to take it back. Anyway, a full is plenty of space for me.”

“That wouldn’t be that hard to do.” Carole turned on her side to face her stepson. “Then it would be easier for you to have sleepovers.”

“Sleepovers?” Kurt asked with raised eyebrows. “Am I still twelve?” He didn’t point out that he’d never really had sleepovers when he was twelve. The boys never invited him, and the parents of the girls he was closer to anyway wouldn’t allow him. By the time he came out in high school, he’d drifted away from most of his friends. They had clubs and sports and other interests in school. He didn’t have time for any of that. No matter how much he might have wanted to sing in a choir or be in a school play, he’d had to make the trip to Dayton every afternoon. It hardly left time for clubs.

“Well, I don’t expect you to play truth or dare.” Carole paused for a moment before she shook her head with a quick smile. “Your father may not agree, but you are definitely old enough to date, Kurt. Past old enough. Someday, I would hope you find someone you want to bring back to your apartment.”

Kurt could feel his face flush red all the way to the tips of his ears. “I don’t think so. I’m not exactly- I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“Find the right guy, and I’m sure you’ll feel differently.” Carole rolled back over and sat up on the edge of the bed. “You’re twenty, Kurt. You need to explore dating sometime. I know that in Ohio, it might not have been the easiest thing, but I’m sure that there are plenty of young, eligible gay men in Los Angeles.”

Kurt covered his face with his hands. “I don’t want to talk about this. Especially in a furniture store in broad daylight. Let’s just get the full and pretend this never came up, alright?”

* * *

 

The next morning, Kurt was grateful for once that the condo was so close to LAX. The rumble of the planes might be annoying much of the time, but it also made dropping Carole off at the airport so much easier than having to drive all the way across a city famous for traffic jams.

Kurt helped her pull her carry on as she checked in and walked with her all the way to the security checkpoint. He hesitated for a moment before he pulled her in for a tight hug. “I’m going to miss you.”

“We’re going to miss you, too, Kurt. But we’ll come and visit when we can. You know your father will make it to every possible competition.” Carole gave him an extra squeeze before she pulled back.

“I know.” Kurt tucked his hands down into the back pockets of his jeans, glancing toward the security line. “It’s not a forever goodbye. I guess I’ve got to spread my wings sometime, right?”

“And soar. You’re going to do great. And remember what we talked about. Don’t let the rink dominate all of your life, Kurt. Be young. Have fun.”

“Why does everyone keep telling me that?” Kurt asked.

“Because you need to hear it. Now, I’ve got to get through security, but you call me anytime you need to talk, alright?”

“Alright.” Kurt stood in place, watching her go. It made the move feel really final. He was on his own now. His father and Carole were just a phone call away, but they weren’t there to step in and save him. He’d have to do that himself. It was time to grow up, but watching Carole on her way through security, it suddenly felt like it was happening so quickly.

* * *

 

Blaine gathered his small group of skaters close to him to end the lesson. “Remember, keep your arms in to increase the speed of your spin. Trust that your center of balance with be there.” He glanced up at the clock on the ice rink wall for a moment. “Alright, it’s time for your lunch break. Make sure you put the guards on your skates properly and go find your parents. I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.” He gave them all high fives on their way off the ice and skated toward the center, turning in a slow circle as he waited for them to leave.

“Hey, Tigger!”

Blaine glanced up at the voice and a smile crossed his face. “Alex. How’s it going?” He skated smoothly over the wall of the rink to talk to his coach.

“Smoothly, I hope. I think I found the perfect choreographer for Hummel. I don’t want to overlap with yours.” Alex turned to watch the families walk out, giving them a smile as they all tried to look like they weren’t staring at him.

“So I get to keep some things to myself?” Blaine tried to joke, resting his forearms on the boards.

“Hey, we talked about this. I will give 100 percent to both of you. You trust me right?” Alex waited for Blaine to nod. “Good. I want to meet with you this afternoon to talk about possible song selections. I have camp lessons at two and three. Can you stop by my office at four? We can move to the rink from there.”

“Sure. I’ll be done with my groups of small people by then.”

“You’re a natural with them, Blaine. Keep up the good work.” Alex flashed him one last smile before he walked away.

Blaine glanced around the rink. He knew that he needed to go eat lunch, but that wouldn’t take a full hour. Not when it was already made and packed in his bag. He grabbed his iPod out, putting the earbuds into his ears as he started up the right playlist. He pushed off from the edge of the ice to skate out, letting himself just enjoy the ice and the music. He didn’t have a set choreography to stick to so he really let himself go. He landed one of his favorite jumps as he realized that he wasn’t alone on the ice anymore.

Kurt was standing at the entrance, dressed in a pair of ice skating pants and a loose grey long sleeved jersey shirt. He flushed as Blaine caught him watching, but Blaine just took out an earbud to smile over with a quick wave. He’d long ago decided that if they were going to have to share so much, a rink, a coach, a condo, that he should make an effort to get along with the other man. It just made sense. It would have been much easier if Kurt had made that same decision. In the three days since Kurt had moved in, it felt like Kurt wanted nothing to do with Blaine. It rather hurt. Blaine was used to making friends more easily than this.

“Kurt! I missed you this morning.”

“I think you were out the door first.” Kurt said softly. “You were up early.”

“I know. There’s a big skating camp that’s held here every year. Really it’s more of a chance for kids to come and train intensively. They can even have a few lessons with the ‘great Alexander Wilson’.” Blaine paused to roll his eyes at that thought. “I help out. I teach some of the lessons to younger skaters and mentor a group of preteen and teen boys. It’s not always easy being one of the few guys really into this sport, you know?”

Kurt nodded at that. He definitely did. “That also explains all the small people all over the place. I was starting to wonder if the rink was always like this.”

“Nope. Not always. Just for a few weeks in June and early July.” Blaine glanced around the space. “Come skate with me?”

Kurt pushed off the boards, stopping center ice. “Won’t we be in each other’s way?”

“Nah. I’m just kind of goofing off anyway.” Blaine skated back to Kurt’s side and did a silly little dance move to the music in his ear. He was willing to make a fool of himself if it would get is new roommate to open up a bit. Kurt seemed nice enough, but so closed in and formal.

“Really? Those are the moves you took to World Jrs?”

“Yep. I’m smooth right?” Blaine flashed a grin, trying to ignore the judgment he imagined could hear in Kurt’s tone. “I’d share my music, but I think it would be a little bit awkward to skate when we were attached by the earbud.”

“Slightly.” Kurt grabbed up Blaine’s loose earbud, pulling it to his own ear to listen. “Katy Perry? Really?” The judgment was clearer in his voice that time.

“Really.” Blaine tried not to get his back up too much as he snatched the earbud back. “Don’t knock Katy. It’s nice to skate to something upbeat.”

“Uh huh.” Kurt smirked, stretching his arms up behind his back. “Do you mind if we just skate? Mr. Wilson, er, Alexander, told me that he thought the rink would be free now. I’m trying to get a feel for the place.

“I should go eat my lunch, anyway. I’m meeting up with another group of kids at one.” Blaine gave Kurt a quick smile and wave as he tucked his earbud back in. He tried not to let it affect him. Kurt might just not be that friendly of a person, Blaine tried to convince himself. It was nothing about him. He just had to make himself believe that.

* * *

 

Blaine’s days quickly fell back into a routine as the camps progressed. He taught his classes of elementary skaters and practiced at the rink. He wasn’t taking any summer classes, so that still left him a little bit free time in his days to socialize with his friends or to spend some time out on the beach.

Kurt found his own rhythm around Blaine’s. Everything still felt off kilter, but it had it’s own pattern. He found a job at a boutique in Manhattan Beach selling women’s clothes and settled into a schedule with Alex. That seemed like enough. Work and training were all he’d planned on to fill his time. College would wait a year, so he had the time to really throw himself into his training. It was good enough. If he kept himself as busy as possible, at least that left little time for homesickness to filter in. He might not have made friends, but that was nothing new. Being alone was safer, anyhow.

“Let’s run through the Phantom music one more time, make sure this is just what we want.” Alex was seated at his desk in the small office he kept in the skating center. Kurt had learned by now that the hockey staff all seemed to have offices here, but he was pretty sure that none of the other figure skating coaches did. “Once we’ve decided and cut this to two and a half minutes, I’ll send it off to the choreographer.”

Kurt nodded from his chair across from Alex’s desk. That was pretty standard, from what he knew. He was honestly glad to have the desk between them. The enforced distance felt more comfortable. Alex had never done anything to let Kurt know that he couldn’t trust him, but that was something Kurt knew from experience. Coaches were only there to make themselves look good by making their skaters look good. They’d do whatever it took to get them to that point. Alex was just kinder about it, or at least he didn’t scream or use the nicknames Kurt had hated from Sue. “Can you play it?”

Kurt and Alex listened through the music until it stopped.

“I like this selection for you. It has drama and flair. You can pull off a really theatrical number. That will set you apart from a lot of your competitors who don’t have the same ability to integrate drama into a performance. The crowd will love it, which really does make a difference,” Alex decided.

“I think that the beat of it will help with flowing through all the short program elements,” Kurt added. He leaned over to look at the computer screen. “We need to cut it down though, right? Can we take a little bit from the hard chords at the start, so that we get a little bit more Music of the Night?”

“Sure.” Alex used the music editing software on his computer to cut several seconds out of the first number, playing it quickly to tell exactly where the music would break. “We still need to decide on music for your free skate. I was thinking of sticking with a Broadway theme for you this year.”

“I do love Broadway,” Kurt admitted. He was trying to be more open, and giving away that little bit of personal information seemed like a good step in the right direction. “Can we make it something lighter? No heavy organ music?”

“So nix the Les Mis music I had planned?” Alex grinned over, much more relaxed in his chair than Kurt.

“Les Mis isn’t bad, but-” Kurt paused for a moment, trying to find a good way to phrase this. He didn’t want to offend Alex, but he wanted the chance to give his feedback. “Would it be possible to avoid the parts where everyone is dying? Go with some of the more ballad style parts?”

“So just nix the death scenes. Got it. I’ll pull together a preview for you and get this music off to Natasha. I think that you’ll really like working with her. Tasha is very talented but she’s a gentle soul. I think that your style will mix well with hers.” Alex stood. “I’ll give you twenty minutes to change, then meet me down on the ice. We’re going to be working on cleaning up your triple axel, and then I want to do a quick run through of what we have for your Exhibition Number. I think you’ll like my ideas.”

“Getting to skate to Wicked is a pleasure in itself. Defying Gravity is one of my favorite musical theater numbers. I’m glad we’re doing it for Exhibition skates with the lyrics, so I’m sure I won’t have a problem with anything you say.” Kurt didn’t bring up the fact that he still found it hard to argue with Alex about anything. He hated the unconditional yes response that had been drilled into him over the years, and a few weeks of training hadn’t been enough time to get rid of it. He wanted to get his fire back, but Kurt wasn’t really sure how to make that happen without taking a huge risk. He had a good relationship here with Alex, at least as far as the skating was concerned. He didn’t want to ruin that.

* * *

 

Blaine tumbled through the door with Jeff and several other members of Jeff’s club hockey team streaming in behind them. “I can’t believe none of you had plans for a Friday night.”

“Hey! You didn’t have plans either,” Jeff pointed out as he slid past Blaine heading straight for the dining area to deposit the bags of Chinese take out he was carrying. “So no fair trying to insinuate that we’re losers.”

“Insinuate. Big word from a puckhead,” Blaine joked before he froze in place. “Kurt, evening.” He’d missed the quiet presence of his roommate at first. Kurt was sitting on the couch, with a magazine in hand. He rolled it up with the cover on the inside before Blaine could see exactly what he’d been reading.

“Evening.” Kurt’s gaze fluttered between Blaine and the four boys that had come in with him. “I didn’t know you were entertaining tonight.”

“It wasn’t planned,” Blaine flashed what he hoped was an apologetic smile. “I ran into the guys in the locker room and realized none of us had plans. So we rented a couple of movies and picked up some Chinese. If we’re going to bother you, I bet we could go to Nick and Trent’s, though.”

Kurt shook his head, clutching tight to the magazine he’d rolled up. “It’s no bother. It’s your condo, after all.”

“It’s your home, too.” Blaine snapped, before he stopped, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck as he looked down at Kurt’s feet, where it was safer.

David looked between the two roommates for a moment before he just cleared his throat, hoping to cut some of the awkward tension. “So, I know we bought far too much food, Kurt. Do you want to join us for dinner?”

* * *

 

Kurt stabbed his fork into a piece of chicken, scooping up some rice as he listened to the conversation flow around him. He’d chosen to claim the arm chair, trying to feel more secure in the presence of so many strangers. Blaine had introduced them as food containers were opened and spread out over the table. David, Nick, Jeff, and Trent all played on a league hockey team at the rink, apparently. Hockey players were all a dangerous quantity in Kurt’s prior experience. He’d done everything he could not to end up sitting on the couch by any of them.

“So, have you been out to experience any of the local bar scene, Kurt?” One of them asked, Trent, Kurt thought, forcing Kurt back into the conversation.

“Not yet. I mean, I won’t be twenty one until the fall, so what’s the point?” Kurt asked in return.

“Dancing,” Nick tossed in. “Some of the places around here are eighteen and over. You just can’t drink if you’re not legal.”

“There’s a new club I wanted to check out,” Trent piped back up. “Eighteen and up and it’s supposed to be pretty gay friendly. You want to come along, Kurt?”

“Well, that’s stereotypical,” Blaine broke in.

“What is?” Trent asked, all wide eyed.

“Assuming that just because he’s a figure skater that he’s gay.” David knew exactly what point Blaine was trying to make. “Just because Blaine loves the boys doesn’t mean they all do.”

“Thank you.” Blaine turned his attention back down to the carton he was holding and his chopsticks.

Kurt stared over to Blaine for a moment. He hadn’t wanted to assume that Blaine was gay, for exactly the reasons David mentioned. Kurt wasn’t really sure how to feel about that information now that he had it. He’d never really had a friend who was gay, but then, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be Blaine’s friend. So in the end, it probably didn’t matter.

“I am. Gay, that is. But I don’t know about a club.” Kurt sank back farther into his chair. This group of hockey players seemed surprisingly okay with Blaine being gay, but that was totally contrary to Kurt’s experiences with the hockey team at McKinley. He remembered only too well the slushies that had been thrown in his face.

“Well, if you don’t have a good time, you wouldn’t have to stay.” Trent just brushed off the other criticism with a grin.

Kurt shrugged quietly, not really ready to argue right now. It didn’t seem like the group of boys was ready to go out that night, so he had plenty of time to come up with a better excuse.

* * *

 

 

As dinner morphed into a marathon of recent superhero movies, Kurt excused himself from the group, disappearing into his bedroom.

Nick waited for a good two minutes before he leaned over toward Blaine on the crowded couch. “So, what’s the deal with him?” He kept his tone low, not wanting it to carry into Kurt’s bedroom.

Blaine shrugged his shoulders. “There’s no deal. He moved here to train with Alex. I needed a roommate.”

“Uh huh.” Jeff leaned in from the other side, joining in on the conversation. “You say that like you haven’t had a crush on him for years.”

“I haven’t!” Blaine insisted, a little too loudly.

“Shh.” David perched on the back of the couch to join in, as Trent slid closer on the floor. “We all know better, though, Blaine.”

“How many times did you watch his footage from the Olympics? A hundred at least,” Trent pointed out.

“That just means that I admire his skating. I wish I had that much artistry.” Blaine crossed his arms defensively over his chest. “Besides, it wouldn’t matter if I did. I’m pretty sure he’d rather I didn’t exist.”

“Ouch. That must be harsh.” Nick flopped his head back against the couch.

“It’s not like that. It’s just- I try to be friendly.” Jeff got a look from Blaine at the nudge in his ribs Blaine got. “Not that kind of friendly. Just nice. He clearly seems to think that I’m in the way of him spending his time doing nothing but practicing. I mean, I know you all tease me about my life revolving around figure skating, but he makes me look like I’m really undedicated.”

“Maybe that’s just because he’s new,” David pondered. “He might be feeling lost and insecure, so he’s relying on the one thing that he knows the best, skating.”

“Okay, Mr. Psych major. Now, are we done gossiping about my new roommate? I actually wanted to watch some of this movie.” Blaine pointedly turned his gaze to the screen.

“Yeah. Andrew Garfield is pretty hot,” Trent added. “We should totally watch this.”

* * *

 

“Good. Your short program is really starting to come together.” Alex gave Kurt a pleased smile.

Kurt made a quick noise of agreement as he pushed in to the final move again. “This ending just doesn’t feel quite right. I think I’m doing something wrong here.”

“Let’s run it one more time, and I’ll see if I can spot the problem. Take five and get some water, first, alright?” Alex clapped Kurt on the shoulder.

Kurt tried not to startle. It was a gesture he was familiar with from his father, but not from a coach. “Right. Five minutes.”

Kurt settled on a bench right outside the rink, grabbing his water bottle out of the bag he’d left beside it. It gave him a good vantage point to watch as Alex spotted Blaine walking nearby and called him over.

“Hey, Tigger!” The nickname seemed rather more affectionate than the ones Sue had given Kurt, because Blaine grinned at it, sidetracking to take himself over to Alex on the outside of the wall surrounding the ice.

“Hey, Alex.” Their tones dropped as they started talking in earnest, leaving Kurt nothing but body language to watch. They both seemed relaxed, Alex leaning against the boards, as he chatted with the other skater. For a moment, Kurt thought they might be talking about him. There was a quick look his way by Blaine that felt a bit suspicious, but then he decided that he must be caught up in some form of paranoia. They had better things to talk about, surely.

He capped his water bottle as Alex pulled Blaine into a rough hug and then shoved him jokingly on his way. Blaine threw what was definitely a wave in Kurt’s direction as he headed out of the room.

Kurt tossed the water bottle down and skated back out toward center ice. “Again?”

“Again,” Alex agreed.

 

* * *

 

The last run through was productive. They’d figured out a quick way to adjust the transition from Kurt’s final spin through to his ending pose, making it feel less awkward to Kurt’s body.

“Run that through a few more times, and then call it a day.” Alex glanced over at the rink clock. “I have a meeting starting in ten minutes that I need to get to.”

Kurt nodded, moving immediately back to start practicing the spin into the pose. He had every intention of doing that, but no intention of calling it a day. It was only ten o’clock. They’d practiced early to avoid the campers, and Kurt had plenty still that he could practice and do.

It must not have been more than five or ten minutes later when Kurt straightened from his ending pose to see Blaine standing on the outside of the rink, watching him. He was still dressed in workout clothes, but he had his skates over his arm and a workout bag thrown over his shoulder.

“Kurt?” Blaine called out as he soon as he saw that Kurt was finished practicing that bit of the program. “I have a mission from Alex.”

Kurt raised his eyebrows over. “Oh? And what would that be.”

“I’m supposed to kidnap you and get you out of the rink. Alex said that he doesn’t want to see either of us here again today.” Blaine sounded almost apologetic as he shared that.

“Seriously? I need to get this right, and Alex wants you to kidnap me?” Kurt shook his head in frustration.

“You have plenty of time before the first competition.” Blaine hesitated before he added, “Alex is worried that you’re becoming a bit of a workaholic, that you haven’t seen anything of the area, and that you’re going to burn yourself out.”

“Alex told you that?” Kurt wasn’t sure whether the fury building in him was the appropriate reaction, but it was the one that was happening. “What business is it of his to tell you?”

“Well, I think he sees me as your teammate.” Blaine held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Look, I get that you’re pissed, but I don’t think it’s wrong. Just give me today? Let me show you what California has to offer outside of ice rinks and retail jobs.”

Kurt let out an exasperated huff. “Fine. If only because Alex is demanding it.” Kurt was still too conditioned to want to do exactly what his coach said for his own liking. “One day. And we go back to the condo first so that I can stock up on sunscreen.”

“Of course. Sunscreen and a swimsuit. I think that today calls for a trip to the beach,” Blaine responded, his usual smile returning when he saw Kurt’s anger start to dissipate. “I solemnly swear that you will have a wonderful time. There’s no way to go to the ocean and not have relaxation seep into your very soul.”

* * *

 

“You really come down here to exercise?” Kurt asked, as he watched Blaine find a spot near his car to stretch.

“I do. There’s a great running and biking trail that runs along the edge of the beach. It’s nice to breathe some fresh air, smell the ocean, and hear the lapping of the waves.” Blaine turned to shrug with a quick smile, gesturing Kurt closer. “You’re not going to run without stretching, are you?”

“I’m not sure I’m going to run,” Kurt mumbled before he gave in with a sigh, moving over to start stretching out his own legs. “It just seems so, well, public.”

“It is. But there’s a sense of camaraderie in that. You get to give everyone who’s running the other direction a nod, feel kind of like you’re all in this together.” Blaine straightened up. “So, we’ll start with a jog, then I was thinking that maybe you could teach me a bit of the yoga I see you doing most mornings. I’ve always dreamed of being part of the stereotype of doing yoga on a beach. You could at least help me check that off my bucket list.”

“You have a bucket list, do you?” Kurt asked as he straightened up, grabbing his water bottle from the seat of the car before he slammed the door shut. “Let’s do this. Then we’ll see.”

“Well, I did kidnap you. That means that I get to tell you what to do, right?” Blaine joked as he started down the trail, running at an easy pace, warming up.

Kurt shot a look of disdain at Blaine. “You are neither my father or my coach. You do not get to tell me what to do.”

Blaine shook his head, not a fan of that look. “Geez. Do you even know what joking means?”

“Of course I do,” Kurt tucked his head down pushing the pace a bit faster. “I just don’t seem to find you that hilarious.”

Blaine stopped in his tracks, forcing Kurt to do the same. “What is your problem with me?”

“I don’t have a problem with you,” Kurt insisted coolly. “Now, are we running or not?”

Blaine started back down the blacktopped path. “It sure seems like you do, sometimes. I try and try to be nice, and all I get in return is you shutting me down.”

“I do?” Kurt tilted his head as he considered that, falling back into a jog beside Blaine. “I guess I- why do you want to be nice to me?”

Blaine sighed as his question was answered with another one. “Because that’s who I am? I think I’m generally a pretty nice guy. Besides, I know a little bit about what it’s like to move out here from the Midwest. To know no one and to have to start all over and make new friends.”

“You came from the Midwest?” Kurt asked, accepting that answer for now at least. “When you were fourteen, right?”

“You do listen sometimes, huh?” Blaine pushed the pace up a notch, his breathing picking up it’s pace around his words. “I moved here from Ohio. Columbus, actually.” He caught the look of interest on Kurt’s face at that and decided to take a risk. “All of the official reports on my life say that I came out here because the great Alexander Wilson was willing to coach me, but my parents and I have chosen to leave out what I was escaping from.”

“Escaping from?” Kurt echoed curiously.

“When I was a freshman, I came out. It didn’t go over so well, at home or at school. There was a dance, and the only other out boy in my whole high school and I decided to go together. We didn’t really think that it would go over all that great, but well, we were young and we wanted the experience. It might have also been a good chance to say ‘screw you’ to the whole lot.” Blaine continued as they ran. It was clear through his whole speech that he was breathing heavily, but the pace wasn’t close to one that would take his breath away too much to talk.

Kurt kept up easily, both young men in excellent shape. “I always wanted to have a boy to take to school dances,” he opened up enough to add wistfully into the conversation. “I didn’t really have a chance to stay in the closet all that long, not with the way I sound and dress along with the skating, but no one else in my school was out, well not until a couple of cheerleaders were outed my senior year. I know the statistics well enough to know that there had to be other gay people in my school, still in the closet. I don’t blame them, one bit.”

“Me, either. There were times I wished I could take back the decision to come out, as important as it had felt at the time, to be honest.” Blaine slowed down to a stop. “Water break? Anyway, back to the story. We expected to be laughed at, maybe called some of the same names that were whispered in the hallways as we passed. Nothing either of us hadn’t dealt with before. We didn’t expect a group of jocks to jump us in the parking lot as we waited for his father to pick us up.” Blaine paused for a moment collect himself as he sipped from his water bottle. “They broke my arm, gave my friend quite a concussion. I missed most of a competition season while I was stuck in a cast. My parents decided that Ohio wasn’t safe for me, and by the time my cast was off, they had made plans for me to move out here with Coop.”

“That sucks,” Kurt said simply. He froze for a moment before he asked, “Why are you trusting me with this? I could put it out there on the internet for everyone to see for all you know.”

“Because one of us needs to open up here.” Blaine capped his water bottle and turned to face Kurt head on. “I’m choosing to trust you. Sometimes it’s worth the risk, to step out of your comfortable shell and make a new friend. I might get burned, but I hope that I won’t.”

“Friends? Is that what we are?” Kurt asked seriously.

“I’m not sure it’s what we are, but it’s certainly what I’d like us to be,” Blaine replied earnestly.

Kurt simply nodded in reply, adding, “I promise that I won’t tell. I won’t betray your trust.”

“Then I’m glad that I wasn’t wrong about you.” Blaine glanced down the path. It was mostly empty at this time on a weekday. “Want to push it a little bit harder?”

* * *

 

Kurt spread out a towel over the sand at the back of the beach near the path they’d been running on, kicking off his shoes and tucking his socks down inside them. “You’ve really never done yoga before?”

Blaine shook his head, “Nope. It’s always looked like something I’d want to try, but the right chance has never been there.”

“I’ll take it easy on you then,” Kurt offered. “You honestly should consider taking it up. It’s great for flexibility and building your core muscles, which can only help out on the ice. It’s also a nice chance to breathe and center yourself.”

“Right. It’s also a good way to accidentally fall over and hurt yourself.” Blaine mimicked Kurt spreading his own towel out over the sand.

Kurt shot a judgmental look over at Blaine. “Maybe for you.”

“Well, yes.” Blaine brushed the look right off as he stretched his arms up over his head. “So, how do we do this thing?”

“We’ll move through a series of poses. I’ll try to explain them as we go. We’ll start with some basic poses today. If you want to keep learning, we can talk about things like breathing later.” Kurt fell into lecture mode as he settled onto hands and knees before he pushed up onto his hands and feet. “This is the first one I like to start with. It’s called downward dog, and it will stretch out your legs and back.”

Blaine followed Kurt’s example moving into the pose. “I can feel that. So this is the one that they show in the movies, right? Because it gives a perfect view to ogle the hot male lead’s ass?”

Kurt let out a peal of laughter. “What movies have you been watching with a hot male lead who does yoga?”

“Why? Do you want to marathon them tonight? See if I’m right, and maybe pause the film at just the perfect moment?” Blaine suggested.

“Does your mind always live in the gutter?” Kurt teased right back. “But we’re supposed to be focusing on our energy and our breathing.”

“Right. Breathing.” Blaine fell silent for a moment trying to do just that before he was distracted by an itch on his back. He reached back with one arm to try to get it and toppled over, taking Kurt down with him. “Oh, shit. Sorry!”

Kurt blinked up at Blaine on top of him, a cross look replaced by a bright peal of genuine laughter as he saw the look on Blaine’s face. He shoved Blaine off even as he laughed. “Oh, lord. Well, you did warn me, didn’t you?”

Blaine’s shocked look was replaced with an open grin. The sound of Kurt actually laughing was worth any damage this might have done to his dignity. “Maybe. But I promise I still didn’t do it on purpose. So, am I hopeless or should we continue?”

* * *

 

After enough attempts at yoga positions to feel he could successfully cross yoga on the beach off his list, Blaine convinced Kurt to change into the beach clothes he’d brought along. “We’ve worked out for the day, so it isn’t as if we’re slacking too much. But now I want to just lay in the sun for awhile and then play in the waves,” Blaine let a bit of a fake whine color his voice at the end.

“God, you sound like you’re five.” Kurt snapped, this time with a grin taking the sting out of the words. “I suppose. I have sunscreen and a book. I shouldn’t let them go to waste.”

A few minutes later, after a quick change in a public bathroom that Kurt vowed never to enter again, they found a free stretch of beach, spreading out their towels once more. Kurt pulled a tube of natural sunscreen out of his bag, rubbing it into every bit of exposed skin he could find. He turned to tuck it back into his bag and caught Blaine staring. “What? You need to borrow the sunscreen?”

Kurt could have sworn that a blush colored Blaine’s cheeks as he shook his head. “No, well, maybe. I’m not going to burn, but it’s still a good idea, right?” He took the tube when Kurt offered it. “I was just thinking how glad I am that Alex ordered us to do this today. It’s beautiful here, right?”

Kurt looked around, really giving himself a moment to take in his surroundings. “It is beautiful. It looks like something out of a painting or a movie.”

“This is my favorite place in the world,” Blaine confided. “When I first moved here, I had some issues with anxiety, and sometimes I would just make Cooper drive me down here, or to the beach in El Segundo, so that I could sit in the sand and watch the waves. There’s just something about the sound of the waves crashing against the shore and the serenity of the ocean that feels peaceful.”

“It does. Even with all these other people around, it still feels like we’re not in the city, somehow.” He propped himself up on his arms, tilting his head back to let the sun warm his face. “Why did I resist this?”

“Because you’re crazy?” Blaine teased lightly as he tossed the sunscreen back onto the top of Kurt’s bag. “Or because you were too focused on the rink and your job to think about what else you might be missing.”

Kurt made a thoughtful hmm as he considered that. “Maybe.” He lay back all the way, using his arm a pillow behind his head. “If I exchange confidence for earlier confidence, will you promise not to spread it on?”

Blaine raised three fingers into the air. “On my honor.”

Kurt snorted in a mixture of disbelief and laughter. “You want me to believe that you were a Boy Scout?”

“Well, I may never have made it out of Cub Scouts, but I promise that you can trust me.” Blaine settled out on his own towel, letting the sun soak into him, warming him to the core.

Kurt turned his head to stare at Blaine for a moment, trying to decide whether he believed him. “I have no idea how to have friends,” Kurt admitted, closing his eyes against the sun beating down. “I don’t even know where to start. It’s been, um, at least three or four years since I’ve had anyone that I would really call a friend.”

“You didn’t leave any behind in Ohio?” Blaine asked, trying to hide the incredulousness in his tone.

“Acquaintances. People I roomed with at various competitions or sat beside in class, but no one that I would call a friend. In high school, I was an outcast. I was the gay kid who dressed funny and spent all his time skating. I chose better training over the chance to stick around after school for clubs or activities.” Kurt kept his eyes shut. This was easier to admit if he didn’t have to see Blaine’s face.

“That sucks,” Blaine replied. “I’d assumed that your cold shoulder was due to the fact that I’m the competition or what happened to you with Sue, but it’s more than that, isn’t it?”

“Take what happened with Sue and spread it over at least the last five years. Home was my refuge. My father doesn’t always understand me, but I’ve never doubted that he loved me. Then, of course, he married the mother of boy who used to hold my backpack while they tossed me into the dumpster. That’s been my life.” Kurt opened his eyes to finally look over to Blaine. “I don’t say that for sympathy. It just is. Things got somewhat better. I graduated high school. When Finn and I got to know each other, we actually became good friends, brothers even.”

“And then he passed away.” Blaine slapped a hand over his mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up. It just slipped.”

“It’s alright. It’s just - how did you know?” Kurt shifted back up to his elbows looking out at the waves. “I didn’t think I’d mentioned it.”

“Color footage. I watched all the skating in the Olympics, of course, and they had a little clip about you and your family. I hadn’t even remembered that until you said his name.” Blaine sat up, pulling his sandy legs up to his chest.

Kurt nodded, accepting the explanation. “So, everyone around me made a big deal about the video with Sue, not that that day was too out of the ordinary except that I can usually land those jumps, but for me? Those are not the worst things I’ve ever been called.”

“Doesn’t mean you should have to be,” Blaine insisted. “Do you know that Alex actually asked me if I was alright with the nickname he gave me?”

“Tigger?” Kurt raised his eyebrows over to Blaine. “Why does he call you Tigger, anyway?”

“Because he says that I have springs in my feet.” Blaine wiggled his toes, burying them in the warm sand. “Thank you for opening up to me, Kurt. I promise I won’t betray that trust. So maybe that’s the first step to having a friend. Taking the risk to share something personal.”

“Maybe it is.” Kurt glanced off at the people playing in the waves. “Maybe it’s some kind of ocean magic that relaxes you into sharing more than you’d usually.”

“Maybe so.” Blaine stood, offering Kurt a hand up. “Care to come see if the magic of the ocean continues once you’re in it?”

Kurt took the hand up, pulling his shirt a bit self consciously over his head. “Only if you promise not to pull me under.”

“Promise.” Blaine tugged his own t-shirt off without a care, tossing it over onto his towel. “Race you there?”

* * *

 

“Ice cream is one of the most perfect things in the world.” Blaine led the way out onto the pier as he licked at his cone.

“I’m not sure Marissa would agree,” Kurt pointed out, even as he took a lick of his own strawberry cone, referencing the nutritionist that the two of them shared.

“Even Marissa would have to approve of an ice cream cone out on the beach on a perfect summer afternoon,” Blaine decided as he glanced down at his own cookie dough cone. “Well, she would on occasion. So, this begs the question, what, Kurt Hummel, is your favorite cheat food?”

Kurt laughed as Blaine held out his ice cream cone like a microphone only to have to pull it back when it started to drip on his hand. He didn’t, however, have to stop to think about the answer to that. “Cheesecake. If I could eat a whole one in one sitting, I would die a happy man.”

Blaine nodded to that. “Cheesecake is good, but I think I would still go with ice cream. Not just a cone, though. I was really going for the perfect cheat food it would be a sundae with caramel and chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and cherries.”

Kurt walked to the side of the pier, leaning against the wooden railing to let the ocean breeze blow through his hair. “Are you going home for the 4th of July?”

Blaine shook his head. “Not this year. We’ll be running camp too close to it to make for a good visit home.” He paused for a moment before adding, “Full disclosure? I rarely go back to Ohio. My parents occasionally come to visit, but mostly I see them when they come to major events.”

“Oh? You’re not close?” Kurt turned to look out to sea, crunching down into the top of his cone.

“Not particularly. You didn’t catch that from them sending me to live out here at fourteen?” Blaine let out a short, forced laugh. “They’re supportive, very supportive financially, but I’ve always suspected it’s more because they like having a possible future Olympian to brag about than because they see that this is my dream.”

“There was more than that behind the move,” Kurt pointed out before he shook his head. “I don’t know what I would have done if my dad hadn’t been willing to support me in pursuing this crazy dream.”

“You would have found a way,” Blaine said decisively. “It’s what we’re meant to do. Are you going home for the holiday?”

Kurt shook his head. “It’s too expensive. I think that Dad and Carole are saving up to come out for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, but this is too soon.”

“Well, I’m betting Alex will be holding his annual barbecue. He and his wife host a big one in their backyard every Fourth. His place is on a hillside, so you can see the fireworks when they go off. I’m sure we’ll be getting invites this week. He always invites all the skaters he works with.” Blaine turned to lean his back against the railing as he finished off his ice cream.

“That - I want to say that sounds like fun, but that kind of sounds like a lot of people I don’t really know,” Kurt said.

“But I’ll be there, and so will Alex. And probably Tasha and the whole group of choreographers he works with. You’ll probably know more people than you think you will. I promise that I won’t leave you to the wolves.” Blaine straightened up and looked down toward the octagonal building at the end of the pier. “Did you know that there’s an aquarium here?”

“On the pier?” Kurt questioned.

“Yep! It’s not the biggest aquarium, but it’s free. Want to go see some fish?”

* * *

 

**FrozenDaze**

Guys, guys! Tell me if you see what I see here:

<Inserted picture of Kurt and Blaine walking along the pier. Blaine has a grin on his face, and he must have just said something funny, because Kurt is obviously laughing.>

**SkateFan97**

Is that Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel together? Where is this?

**FrozenDaze**

That’s who I thought it was. I didn’t go up and talk to them or anything. I felt like enough of a creepy stalker just taking the picture.

My parents took us to L.A. for vacation, and we went to the beach today. They were just standing on the pier talking.

**IceDance**

Wow! Lucky girl, and you got a great shot of them. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kurt laughing that much. He usually seems so serious.

**BladeRunner24**

So it must be true that they’re sharing a coach. Maybe they’re sharing something more? I would ship it. They look adorable together.

* * *

 

“This is going to be wonderful once we clean it up.” Alex beamed as he offered Blaine a water bottle. “That’s the first time we’ve put together your whole free skate, and it’s marvelous, if I do say so myself. You’re going to blow them away by Nationals.”

Blaine basked in the praise for a moment as he tried to catch his breath, leaning against the boards. “It will if it doesn’t kill me first.” He unscrewed the top of the water bottle, taking a long drink.

“If your long program doesn’t leave you breathless by the end, then we haven’t made it technical enough,” Alex said. “Once you have this down to muscle memory, we’ll talk about whether we want to add a second quad jump to it. We’ll have to sit down to look at technical scores and see if it would be worth it.”

“And consider what my legs can handle.” Blaine passed the bottle of water back over, pushing back up off the boards to stand straight up and down.

“Well, there is that, too. I do think we went the right direction this year for you in trading some of the classical you’ve skated to recently off for big band standards. How are you feeling about the music?” Alex asked.

“Like I wouldn’t want to trade it after all the work to learn that free skate, even if I hated it. We start the short program next week?” Blaine grinned, “I do like it better though. I feel like it’s more me on the ice. I like the pep and movement of the jazz better than I did the flowing lyricism I was expected to have for the classical we’d been working with.”

Alex nodded. “It’s a better fit for the Tigger in you. And yes, short program next week. We’re going swing for it, so be ready to sweat your ass off. Now, I want you to either use the hot tub here or go home and use the one at your complex. Keep those muscles from tightening up after all we’ve put them through today. You’ve got a group of campers at 2, so you have plenty of time.”

Blaine glanced up at the clock, surprised to see that it was already almost 11. “I will, but first I promised Kurt that I’d meet him here.” A guilty look flashed across Blaine’s face as he admitted that, “You don’t mind, do you, if I try to help him with some jumping things.”

“I would prefer to be asked,” Alex shook his head, “but overall I don’t mind so long as neither of you push it too hard. I’d rather have the two of you working like this, together, than opposing each other. This is about his burning desire to pick up a quad, isn’t it?”

Blaine nodded slowly, “It’s not that we don’t, well I don’t, trust you, but I might see things a little bit differently, with a different perspective.”

“You’re welcome to look,” Alex said. “I do have to say thank you as well for whatever magic you did during your little beach day. He’s been in a much better place since.”

Blaine flushed, unsure what to say without revealing too much. “You’re welcome.” He waved as he spotted Kurt walking through the doors to the rink with his skates still in hand.

Kurt flashed a quick guilty look at Alex as he headed to the bench to sit and trade out his sneakers for his skates. “Morning.”

“Oh good, I’m glad I caught you both together.” Alex shifted subject quickly as if they hadn’t just been briefly talking about Kurt. “You know that Friday is the Fourth, right? I’m hosting a big barbecue dinner at my house. I hope that both of you will be able to make it.

* * *

 

“So, I’m not sure how much actual quad practice we should get in,” Blaine said as Kurt joined him on the ice. He held up his hand as he saw Kurt start to move into a defensive mode. “Not that I don’t want to help, but Alex just ran me hard. My legs are shot, and without a jump harness I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“A jump harness?” Kurt blinked over. “I haven’t used one of those in years.”

“Really? Sue didn’t use one when you were working on trying to get that quad? Alex and I have used one for training several jumps in the last few years. It’s a lot less painful if he can catch me before I fall.” Blaine pushed off the wall, moving toward center ice as if it was a given that Kurt would follow. “You should ask him about it, if he hasn’t brought it up.”

“I’ll consider that,” Kurt decided. “We’ve been working on learning programs first, then we’ll really focus on it. At least according to Alex.”

Blaine nodded, giving Kurt a look up and down, thinking more than evaluating Kurt’s outfit of gunmetal grey skating pants and a deep green sweater that looked incredibly soft and brought out the green in Kurt’s eyes. Or at least he intended to be, if he could keep his hormones under control. “Right. So, which quad had you been working on with Sue, anyway?”

Kurt blinked over at Blaine. “Toe loop.” He used a tone of voice that screamed ‘of course’ to Blaine.

“Hmm. You know that’s not the only choice, right?” Blaine asked.

“Maybe not, but isn’t it the one most people start with?” Kurt fired back.

“But you’re not most people,” Blaine responded with a grin. “So, you already have a solid triple axel. That’s three and a half rotations, so this is just an extra half. You can do this.”

Kurt raised his eyebrows. “Are you going to solve all my problems with a pep talk?”

“Maybe.” Blaine flashed a big grin at Kurt’s moment of snark. “Actually, I was just thinking aloud. Maybe we should change course. I was watching some footage to get a better idea of how you jump, but it would be easier to see it in person than on some grainy YouTube video that someone ripped from TV coverage or took with their phone.”

“You’ve been watching my skating?” Kurt asked, with a faint flush on his cheeks.

“Of course.” Blaine didn’t want to have to admit how many times he’d watched Kurt skating even before he had this legitimate reason. “How am I going to pretend to be your jumping coach if I don’t have a good idea of how you skate?”

Kurt nodded, apparently satisfied with that answer. “So, jumps. Any particular ones you want to see?”

“Some of the lower point ones. Your Toe Loop, Salchow, and Loop. Double or Triple.” Blaine fired it off quickly, because he’d come up with the bones of this plan earlier, wanting to be ready for their meeting. All that was left now was to see if he was right.

Kurt simply nodded again, moving off to do what Blaine had asked. He took time to build speed before each one, landing three separate clean jumps. Blaine watched each, putting aside any outside distractions to focus on Kurt’s buildup to the jump through his landing.

“Good?” Kurt asked as he skated back over, task complete. “Or did you need me to put on more of a show and repeat any of those.”

“Well, I do like a good show,” Blaine joked. “Maybe you could add a few pirouettes? Do some ballet on skates.”

Kurt shot Blaine a ‘really?’ look with a roll of his eyes. “You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”

Blaine skated a tight little circle around Kurt, still in a joking mode. “I am! An adorable one.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Kurt couldn’t help but crack a smile, though. “Are we going to talk jumping, or are you going to try to make me dizzy watching you?”

“The first.” Blaine stopped in front of Kurt. “Alright, here’s what I think. First off, I think that you’re going to have a much easier time learning this with Alex. For one thing, he knows what he’s doing from actual experience. Only a handful of coaches have ever had a skater to teach to do a quad jump, and he’s one of them. He taught me. He can teach you.”

Kurt let out a little huff of air. “Huh. I hadn’t considered that.”

“And he’ll build you up through noticing the small successes rather than tear you down for your mistakes. That’s my favorite thing about skating for Alex. It’s not that he doesn’t give constructive criticism. He’ll definitely point out what you’re doing wrong, but it’s not mean, you know? He’ll find those imperfections because he can help you fix them. The same goes for this.” Blaine gave Kurt a serious look, settling down from his earlier playfulness. “Trust him. That’s going to be a huge step here. You have to trust him and listen to him.”

“I’m trying,” Kurt said. “It’s not always as easy as deciding to trust. I can tell myself that I need to do that, but sometimes it doesn’t sink in.” Kurt cracked a half smile. “And here I am opening up to you, and we’re not even on a beach anymore.”

“It’s my charm. You can’t resist it.” Blaine nodded toward the side of the rink, inviting Kurt to skate off with him toward the edge so he could go rest his exhausted legs. “Or maybe you’re coming to trust me at least.”

“It’s a step, right?” Kurt said. “So is that all the advice I get for putting on a show for you? Listen to Alex? Learn to trust him?”

Blaine shook his head with a quick laugh, “I could have told you that without the show. No, the extra bit of advice I have from here is that you might want to try switching off for an edge jump rather than a toe jump. Just because the quad toe is ‘supposed’ to be easier doesn’t mean it’s the best fit for you. I’m not saying to go for a quad axel, but a salchow might work better for you. Did you know that you get better height, considering the jump, on your edge jumps than your toe jumps?”

“No. I do?” Kurt tilted his head to the side as he considered that. “I’d never noticed that.”

“Then this was worth our time. I’ll mention it to Alex, see if he’s noticed the same thing.” Blaine offered, leaning down to start unlacing his skates. “I’m going to head back home. Alex ordered me to take some hot tub time, and that’s not a request I’m going to ignore. I’d rather just do that at home, though. You staying to skate?”

Kurt nodded, “I want to run a transition in my program that’s giving me fits a few more times before I meet to start talking costumes this afternoon.”

Blaine toed on his sneakers as he nodded, “I’ll see you later, then. I’m off for a few hours before I have a camp group to coach. I was thinking of grocery shopping later this afternoon. Need anything?:

Kurt shook his head, but couldn’t stop the small smile from coming to his lips at Blaine’s thoughtfulness. “Not today, but thank you for asking.”

“No problem.” Blaine collected his things. “See you later?”

Kurt nodded. “Have a nice soak.”

“Oh believe me, I will.” Blaine gave one last quick wave before he headed out of the rink, pausing at the door to turn and watch Kurt, unseen. A smile spread across his face as he watched Kurt push off into a spin already falling into his skating headspace. As he watched the easy fluidity with which Kurt managed a spin that never felt natural to him, he made a mental note. If he was going to help Kurt master this jump, maybe Kurt could help him with his spins in return.

* * *

 

“Hello?”

Kurt held his cell up to his ear as Carole greeted him on the phone. “Hey Carole. Is Dad there?”

“He’s at the shop,” Carole quickly added on, “But I promise that he’s not overworking, before you start on that.”

Kurt laughed, “You knew just what I was going to say. I can’t help that I worry.”

“I know, but know that I’m keeping an eye on him. I want to make sure he sticks around, too, you know,” Carole insisted.

“I’m sure you do,” Kurt said. “It’s just hard for me not to be able to see him in person. I feel so out of the loop. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but…”

“But you’d rather see with your own eyes. I’ll tell him to make sure that the two of you get some good Skype time in soon,” Carole promised. “But he really did just run down to the shop for a few minutes. One of the guys ran into a problem with a car and wanted Burt’s expert opinion. Do you want me to have him call you back when he gets home?”

Kurt nodded, forgetting for a moment that Carole couldn’t see him. “That would be great.”

“So, how is sunny Southern California?” Carole asked, obviously not ready to hang up yet.

“Quite sunny.” Kurt pushed up the sliding glass doors to the balcony of the condo stepping out into the fresh air as he talked. “The weather here has been really nice. Warm but not too hot. Kind of humid.”

“Mmm hmm. I was hoping to find out about more than the weather. Not that I don’t believe that it’s nice and warm there. It is the start of July. How is everything else going?” Carole pressed.

“Good. I like skating with Alex. You can reassure Dad that he treats me really well. Give him one less thing to worry about. We’ve been preparing new programs, and he’s letting me skate to all Broadway music this year, which I’ve wanted to do for a long time.” Kurt leaned against the railing, staring down at the courtyard and swimming pool two floors below.

“I’ll let him know,” Carole promised. “And I can’t wait to see it. Send us video when it’s ready so we can get a preview?”

“Of course.” Kurt smiled. “It’s not quite there yet, but we’ve got some time.”

“I’ll be amazed no matter what. I still can’t believe what you can do out there,” Carole said, and Kurt could easily imagine the warm smile on her face. “Now, how about life beyond the rink? Have you been making any friends?”

“God, that makes me feel like a seven year old starting at a new school.” Kurt paused for a moment as he considered his response. “I suppose I have been, starting to at least. Living with Blaine was awkward at first, but I think that we’ve actually sort of become friends. If you’d asked me a year ago if I thought I’d be good friends with someone who is such direct competition, I’d have told you of course not.”

“So what changed?” Carole asked.

“Blaine. I blame it all on Blaine. He’s just so nice. I can’t believe sometimes that anyone that genuinely nice actually exists.” Kurt could feel a soft smile cross his face. “For example, a few days ago he went to the grocery store and came home with several containers of strawberry cheesecake flavored yogurt for me. We’d been talking about our favorite unhealthy foods, and I admitted my love of cheesecake. He went out of his way to find something that fits our diet that incorporates that. Even if it doesn’t exactly taste like cheesecake, it’s still good.”

“That is sweet,” Carole said “Are you sure that he isn’t interested in being more than your friend? Because those sorts of sweet gestures could be a way to woo you.”

“I’d hope that I’d know when I’m being wooed.” Kurt turned around to rest his back against the balcony railing. “Although, I mean, it’s never happened before. Maybe I wouldn’t?” He could feel a blush creeping up his cheeks, warming them from the inside. “I doubt it, though. I think it’s just the kind of nice thing that he does, just because he’s Blaine.”

“Well, I’m glad that you’re getting along with your roommate and making friends at the same time, either way.” Carole’s voice trailed off, and Kurt could hear some muffled talking away from the phone. “Oh, your father’s home. Let me pass you off to him. Call me anytime you want to talk though, Kurt. Even if it’s about something that you’re embarrassed to tell your father.”

“Hey, kiddo.” Burt’s voice came across the line a moment later.

“Dad, it’s so nice to talk to you.” He could just feel himself reacting to just the sound of his father’s voice. There was something calming and safe about it.

“It’s good to talk you, too, Kurt. How has your week been?”

* * *

 

The Fourth of July picnic was filled with as many people as Kurt had feared. There was no way he could say no to going though, not when both Alex and Blaine were asking him to. Blaine had walked out in the living room dressed in a bright red and white striped polo shirt and a navy bowtie with little white stars. He looked so much like an American flag that Kurt had wanted to just laugh, but it made the earnest appeal to go with him even harder to resist.

Kurt had avoided joining in on the theme of wearing as much red, white, and blue as possible at least. He followed Blaine into Alex’s house dressed in aqua, summery, but not adding to the look of a flag throwing up on everything, thank you very much.

Kurt fell in beside Blaine, letting his friend greet too many people for him to follow all of their names as he took the chance to look around the house. Alex and his wife lived in a mid-century home. They’d decorated it in more modern earth tones against a warm wooden floor. It wasn’t exactly what he would have chosen to do with the space, but it seemed homey and comfortable.

Sooner than he would have liked, he found himself separated from Blaine by a group of preteens who dragged Blaine off to discuss some band they wanted to know his opinion on. Kurt watched it happen with amusement before the realization sunk in that he was on his own now. He wandered through the kitchen, appreciating the way the light granite counters offset the dark wooden cabinets, and out into the backyard. An array of picnic type foods were set out on a long folding table, while an assortment of card tables spilled out from the patio onto the grass of the backyard.

“Can you give me a hand here?”

Kurt turned at the sound of a woman’s voice. The tall, brunette was standing next to the table of food holding a platter of deviled eggs. “Sure, what do you need?”

“Can you just hold these for a second while I clear off a spot to put them down?” The woman asked, passing the platter off to Kurt as soon as she could. “I’d hate to tip it and have all the eggs ruined.”

“That would be a waste of a lot of hard work,” Kurt said, looking down to the platter. The eggs were neatly arranged in a series of concentric circles, the white and yellow sprinkled with a dash of red paprika.

“I’d swear that I was peeling either eggs or apples for the pie all night yesterday.” Salad was shifted back and a bowl of chips were moved down to the other end of the table before she took the plate back from Kurt. “Every year I tell Alex that this is too much work, and we should let someone else throw the party next summer. And every year I end up doing it anyway.”

Kurt cracked a smile at that. “Maybe it’s long enough away that you forget?”

“I never forget all of the cleaning and cooking. Ever.” She shook her head with an exasperated smile. “I’m Amy by the way.”

Kurt took the hand she offered him to give it a quick shake. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kurt.”

“I know.” At the look on Kurt’s face, Amy laughed. “You think that I haven’t seen seven million videos of you skating? I’m married to Alex, for goodness sake. I swear that he spent half of April and May repeatedly watching any footage he could get of you.”

Kurt winced. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I didn’t mind, or at least I knew what I was getting in for when I married him. Besides, I rather enjoyed watching your skating, at least the first hundred times.” Amy glanced around the backyard. “Everything seems to be pretty settled out here for now. Care to help me stir up some lemonade?”

“Whatever you need,” Kurt offered. It seemed better than standing alone out here in the sun.

“Follow me, then, but never let it be said that I made you into my indentured servant.” Amy led the way back into the kitchen, stretching onto her toes to pull down  a pitcher form the cabinet. “So how are you liking L.A. so far?”

“It’s alright. I haven’t really seen that much of it. I have been down to the beach a few times though. I think I love it there.” Kurt leaned against one of the barstools on the opposite side of the kitchen island. “I’m still not quite sure what to make of so many people. It feels like the city goes on for days.”

“Or at least the suburbs do,” Amy agreed, pulling a tub of lemonade mix out of a tall pantry cabinet. “Making way too much of this today to make it homemade,” she commented. “I hope that you’re settling in well. I know that Alex was excited to work with you.”

“He was?” Kurt asked, trying to hide his astonishment that someone would really look forward to working with him, and not the other way around.

“Don’t let him know that I gave away his secrets, but yes. I think that secretly prefers coaching male skaters, and since there’s so many less of you…”

“He had Blaine.”

“And now he gets to work with both of you.” Amy turned on the faucet, twisting a filter so that the water started to pour through it. “I’m glad that you could come today. I know that it’s not always the easiest to not have your family nearby on a holiday.”

“I never thought that I’d still get homesick,” Kurt admitted, “but today, I feel it. I’ve never spent a major holiday away from my father before. Part of me wishes that I was back in Ohio today to celebrate with them.”

“I think that holidays are the hardest time to be away from our families. There are just so many traditions that go along with them that are hard to carry out on our own.” Amy grabbed a large wooden spoon from a drawer and slid the pitcher over toward Kurt. “Care to stir?”

Kurt laughed as he reached out to stir the lemonade powder into the pitcher of water. “My mother used to have me do this when I was young. It brings me back to be handed the pitcher to stir.”

Amy gave Kurt a quick smile as she turned to pull out a second jug. “I hope that’s not a bad thing. I don’t mean to make you feel like you’re five.”

Kurt shook his head. “It’s not. The memories are nice sometimes.”

“Good. So my husband hasn’t been torturing you too much has he?” Amy filled the second pitcher, keeping this one to stir herself.

Kurt couldn’t hold back another laugh at that. “No. He makes me work hard, but no torture has been involved. Should I be worried?”

“Well, I did tell him to stop, so I’d hope he’d listen,” Amy joked. “But really, I’m glad you’re out here with us. I will admit that I saw that video, and no one should be treated that way.”

Kurt was saved from figuring out how to reply to that when Blaine joined them, sneaking up behind Amy to wrap his arms around her in a big hug. Kurt was admittedly relieved. He was never sure how to respond when someone mentioned having seen the video.

Amy let out a little squeak of surprise and turned around to smack Blaine on the bicep. “You could have made me spill the lemonade,” she admonished, before she pulled him into a tighter hug. “And how have you been?”

“Good, good. Busy between training and helping out with the camps. At least those will be finished next week.” Blaine gave her a good squeeze and then stepped back, leaning his hip against the counter.

“And then you will come for dinner. That is not optional.” She turned to give Kurt a quick look. “You should bring Kurt along. We’d love to have you.”

Kurt nodded, pushing the stirred pitcher back over. “I’d be happy to come if I can.” And even if he wasn’t, that seemed like the thing to say. Dinner here might be a good chance to stick his foot in his mouth and mess up what seemed like a good thing. At the same time, it could be a good chance to learn to relax a bit in Alex’s presence. Amy seemed nice, if a bit forward.

“It has been awhile, hasn’t it?” Blaine gave Amy a sheepish shrug. “We’ll have to work out something as soon as you recover from all of this.”

“Good. I thought that I’d see more of you now that Cooper moved out, not less. Now, will you two boys carry these out to the patio? I need to go check with Alex and see when the hamburgers will be done.” Amy half asked, half ordered.

“Sure. Call me about dinner.” Blaine took one of the pitchers, waiting for Kurt to grab the other before he headed off out toward the patio. “So, I see that you met Amy?”

Kurt nodded, “I think she might be even more outgoing than Alex. I wasn’t quite sure that’s possible.”

“The two of them are both definitely people persons. Amy is great.” Blaine slid the pitcher into an open spot on the table. “When I moved out here, she really took me under her wing. She can be kind of like the team mom, if you were to consider all of us skaters a team. There were definitely times when I felt like she and Alex were raising me, much more than my parents back in Ohio ever really did.”

Kurt set his pitcher down beside Blaine’s. “So coming to dinner here will be fine?”

“Definitely. It’ll be a good, home cooked meal while Amy fawns over you like a long lost son. She and Alex never had kids, so I think that she uses us as substitutes.” Blaine led the way off to a cluster of empty lawn chairs. “I don’t really mind it. Actually, I think that I not-so-secretly love it. My mother never really cared what I was feeling or thinking all that much. It’s nice to have someone who really wants me to be happy and not just successful.”

Kurt sank down into one of the chairs. “That sounds pretty nice, actually. I have that kind of family, one who really loves me. They’re all the way off in Ohio, though. Why don’t they have kids?”

“I don’t think they could.” Blaine took the seat next to Kurt. “I’m not sure of that, but it’s the impression I’ve always gotten. It’s too bad. They’d be amazing parents.” Blaine smiled as a younger boy came over. “Kyle! It’s good to see you.”

The boy, probably somewhere around thirteen, tucked his hands down into the pockets of his cargo shorts as he gave Blaine a shy smile. “Hey Blaine.”

Blaine caught the curious look exchanged between Kurt and Kyle. “Have you met Kurt yet?” At Kyle’s head shake, Blaine continued on. “Alright, well, Kurt, this is Kyle. He’s Alex’s newest student. Well, other than you.”

Kurt offered his hand out to the other boy. “It’s nice to meet you. Come join us?”

* * *

 

Corn on the cob and fireworks turned into the end of the summer day camps. With those finished and the rink time much more open, Alex increased the training time for both Kurt and Blaine. “Let’s get those programs mastered. It’s time to really commit them to memory. The extra sessions will also give us more time for working on new moves,” he’d said.

That made the rest of July pass in the blink of an eye. Before Blaine knew it, August was starting, and they were ramping up for a trip to Lake Placid, New York for the first competition of the year. This one was always a good time to test out new routines because it had no bearing on Nationals. Blaine had always secretly thought of it as a competition for the sake of competition.

He tucked the last of the clothes he planned to take on top of his toiletry kit and zipped the small suitcase. “Did you get everything you need?” He called out toward Kurt’s room as he wheeled the bag out.

“I did. I can’t believe we’re taking an overnight flight. How do you manage to stay awake through everything tomorrow?” Kurt was already seated in the armchair, his own carry on in front of him.

“Benadryl. No, seriously. I take some when I get on the flight to make sure that at least I’ll sleep through it. That’s also one reason Alex has us coming in tomorrow. He might say that he wants to make sure we get to take part in the optional ice time the day before we compete, but I really think it’s that he wants us to have a day to nap if need be. The flight is just too long to do this any other way and not waste an entire day.” Blaine shrugged, leaning on the back edge of the couch.

“Do you have enough to share?” Kurt asked with a joking smile. “Alex won’t forget any of our gear, right?”

“No, he has this down. He’ll make sure that your skates and everything are packed with your costume. He always combines it all so that we have less to check. I swear that he has this all down to a science.” Blaine grabbed his wallet and keys from a table near the door. “You ready?”

* * *

 

 

Kurt settled into his seat, thankful that Blaine had let him take the window. They’d ended up with two seats in a row of three. Alex was seated several rows ahead with one of his younger skaters who was competing at a lower level, leaving the two of them to take the other seats. Sitting so close to anyone was not Kurt’s favorite thing anyway, so being practically pressed up against a stranger for a five hour flight? That sounded like it should be one of Dante’s circles of hell. Thank goodness Blaine had seen the look on Kurt’s face and offered him the window. Being stuck between the cool glass and Blaine was preferable at least.

Kurt stared out at the lights of LAX beaming against the darkness. “It feels so odd to be leaving L.A. I never thought that this place would feel like home so fast.”

“We’ll be back all too soon,” Blaine pointed out, leaning in close to Kurt to peer out into the night. “We’re only in Lake Placid for what, four days?”

Kurt nodded. “Right. I’m just being tired and silly. Don’t mind me.”

“You’re not silly,” Blaine insisted. “You might be many things, but never call your emotions silly.” He dug down into the backpack he’d stowed under the seat in front of him to offer a small bottle out to Kurt. “Care for some tablets of sleep?”

Kurt took them with a quick laugh. “I thought you might be joking, but you really weren’t, were you?”

Blaine shook his head, taking the bottle back after Kurt got his. He shared a water bottle as well, downing the little pink pills. “Nope. Sleep is too important to play around with and using these every once in awhile will not hurt anything. They’re hardly a performance enhancing drug.”

“Not in the technical sense of the words at least.” Kurt dug his iPhone out of his bag unwrapping the headphones he’d stored with it.

“What are you listening to?” Blaine asked, leaning into Kurt’s space as a man in his fifties or sixties took the seat on his other side.

Kurt pulled up his iTunes and scrolled through the playlists. “Wicked, I think.”

Blaine nodded pretending to be overly thoughtful with a rub of his chin. “Good choice. Good choice.”

Kurt hesitated before he offered an earbud out to Blaine. “We could share it.”

Blaine’s huge smile was a reward in itself. “That would be great.”

* * *

 

Kurt blinked blearily awake what felt like hours later. He’d fallen asleep not long after take off, the late hour aided by the sleeping pills Blaine had shared. He turned his head, slowly becoming aware of a warm presence pressed against him. He should have known that Blaine was a cuddler. He was so much more physical with his friends than Kurt could imagine being.

After a moment’s hesitation, Kurt pulled his phone out from between them, disconnecting the headphones from the jack. He turned on the camera, putting it into selfie mode and held it out, taking a picture flashless in the dim lighting.

Kurt stared down at the picture with a soft smile. It was cute, even if he wasn’t so sure he’d admit that to anyone, the way Blaine had his head resting on Kurt’s body, with the whole line of him pressed warm and comfortingly up against Kurt.

Kurt covered a yawn with his hand, snuggling down a little bit more in his seat. Blaine shifted position as Kurt moved, making the warmth of his steady breathing press against the skin where the collar of Kurt’s shirt had been pulled to the side by Blaine’s nuzzling.

Kurt considered pushing Blaine back into his own space for a moment before he decided to just go with it. He dropped his head back down to the top of Blaine’s, leaning back against his friend. He’d never really thought about sleeping this way with anyone, let alone someone in such a public place, but it somehow seemed right. Maybe it was just the late hour and the sleeping medicine, but he didn’t want to lose Blaine’s warmth.

* * *

 

“Thank you so much for sitting down to talk to us today.”

Kurt smiled nervously at the interviewer across from him. Alex had arranged this interview with Skating.com for him with Kurt’s permission. He knew that he had some PR work to do with after the incident with Sue earlier this year. This was only the first of many interviews where that subject might come up. “Thank you for having me.”

The woman set a tape recorder down in between them with a quick smile. “My name is Amelia Johnson. I’ll be recording our conversation today to make it easier to transcribe later. Is that alright with you?”

Kurt nodded. That was fairly standard procedure for interviews that weren’t on camera. “Sure. It’s alright with me.”

“Good. So, Kurt, how are you feeling going into the Lake Placid Invitational?”

“Really good.” Kurt tried to force himself to relax back into the soft chair they’d offered him. “I feel like I’m as ready as I can be for this. I’m excited to go out there tonight and skate my best.”

Amelia nodded. “I know that you’ve recently changed to a new coach. What is it like, working with Alexander Wilson?”

“Wonderful,” Kurt replied honestly. “Alex is a great coach. He’s been able to help me fix some small errors I didn’t even realize I was making and he’s helped to make sure that I have amazing programs to skate this year.”

“I hear that he pushes athletes hard. Is that true?”

Kurt stared over at the interviewer for a moment. He hadn’t expected questions about Alex, other than the obvious ones about the change. “Alex pushes us as hard as he needs to for us to succeed. I think that athletes at this level push ourselves hard as well. Alex just has my success in mind. He makes me work as hard as I’ve ever worked, yes. At the same time, Alex is unfailingly positive. He’s always ready with a compliment and a way to keep getting even better.”

Amelia nodded, “How about Sue?” She caught Kurt’s hesitance and carried on “I know that we’ve all seen the video. Can you tell me if that was a one time incident?”

Kurt froze for a moment not sure what to say in response to that. He didn’t want to lie, but he also wasn’t sure that he wanted to tell the whole truth. “Sue helped me to grow into a skater of the caliber that I am now. I will always be thankful for that. I have learned a lot from her over the years about skating and about competition, but I have chosen to work with a coach with a different style for now.”

Amelia jotted a note in the pad she had out. “So, that wasn’t a single incident?” She pushed forward when Kurt’s answer neither confirmed nor denied it.

“It wasn’t,” Kurt admitted. “Not every session was that bad, not at all. But that was not an isolated incident.”

“So, what can we expect from you this season?” Amelia shifted the conversation as soon as she had that admission from Kurt.

“This season I am skating to music from several Broadway musicals. I love the theater and the music of Broadway is near and dear to me. When Alex suggested this as a possible theme, and a possible change in musical styles, I was very excited. My short program is set to Phantom of the Opera which has several songs that I just love. We played with several different pieces for my long program. We almost went with Cats or Ragtime, but in the end we decided to pull music from Les Miserables. I love both of those classic musicals, so I am really excited to get the chance to debut programs set to their music this week.”

Kurt forced himself to keep a smile on his face as the interview carried on. He had never really loved interviews. It was nerve wracking to worry about ways that your words could be twisted out of their original context. He had to be very careful to make sure that his words were exactly what he wanted to say. It was also a time when he had to pretend to be more social than he was. If nothing else, he felt like he was acting, creating a pretend version of himself that the cameras and the media might like better than who he thought he really was.

“We can’t wait to see them.” Amelia glanced down at her notebook for the questions she’d written there. “So, what has it been like to train with your competition? Alexander Wilson also coaches Blaine Anderson, correct?”

“That’s right. I can’t wait to see Blaine make his National event debut as a Senior level skater. I’ve seen his programs, and they’re going to be great.” Kurt smiled, ready to pretend that everything was wonderful.

“So the two of you don’t have any kind of rivalry going on at the rink?” Amelia asked.

“I’d say that we have somewhat of a friendly rivalry.” Kurt answered. “It was awkward at first to be training with the same coach in the same rink as one of my biggest competitors, because I truly believe that Blaine could be a future National Champion. Blaine and I worked through it though, and we’re friends now. I’d say that there’s some friendly competition there, though. I really want to see Blaine do well at this event, and at others, but at the same time, I want to do even better.”

“The two of you are actually roommates, right? So you live together off the rink?”

Kurt was surprised to find that Skating.com even had that kind of information. He didn’t know that his living situation was public knowledge, but he hadn’t lied before and didn’t plan to start now. “We are. I was training in Ohio before I changed coaches, so I had to find an apartment to rent in California when I decided to move there. At the same time, Blaine was looking to rent out his spare bedroom. It seemed like the perfect fit since we have similar schedules and such. It’s been working out well, after we laid down our apartment ground rules.” Kurt paused for a moment before deciding that this was a fine chance to open up a little bit more. “We decided that above all, our biggest rule for our apartment would be that all competition ended at the front door. At the rink, he might be one of my competitors, but at home, he’s just my roommate.”

* * *

 

Blaine settled down into a what turned out to be a really comfortable chair smiling at the woman across from him. “Good afternoon!”

“Good afternoon, Blaine. My name is Amelia, and I’m happy to be able to talk to you today on behalf of Skating.com.” She gave Blaine a warm smile as she settled a small tape recorder in front of him. “Just so I can focus on our conversation, and not on taking notes.”

Blaine nodded, “That makes sense. I haven’t done many of these before, at least not without my mother or Alex.”

“Well, hopefully you’ll have the chance to do many more.” Amelia said as she glanced down at her notepad. “Are you excited to be competing in your first Seniors competition tonight?”

“So excited and more than a bit nervous, if I can be honest. This feels like the culmination of so many years of hard work.” Blaine flashed a smile that he hoped hid how nervous he actually was under a veneer of enthusiasm.

“Just getting to this level is quite an accomplishment.” Amelia glanced back to her notes for a moment. “You aren’t a total stranger to the spotlight, or the medal podium though, are you? You were the silver medalist at the World Jr. Championships last year, right? And the National Junior Champion?”

Blaine nodded, not able to contain the smile that spread across his face at that. “I was. Those were an amazing nights, both of those podiums. I was very proud of both of my programs that I skated at Jr. Nationals and World’s. My goal is always to go out there and give it my all. I want to skate a clean program and leave nothing on the ice. If I come away from an event knowing that I skated the absolute best that I could, then I’m happy. If I get on a podium at the same time? It’s a wonderful bonus.”

“Are you expecting to do that this weekend?” Amelia probed.

Blaine just laughed. “I would like to skate a clean program, to know I really did my best. That bit, yes, I plan to do this weekend. Have you seen the competition, though? I’m thrilled just to be out on the ice among that group of skaters.”

“Speaking of competition, I hear that you have a new competitor a lot closer to home. How has that worked out?” Amelia had a smile on her face, but Blaine could see an intense look in her eyes behind it. He’d been waiting for this question. There was no way that they’d asked for both these interviews without some kind of planned article on how he and Kurt were sharing a coach. Alex had prepared him for it before he’d even come into the room. Blaine was ready for this. He just had to use the answer he’d prepared.

“It’s been wonderful. I’ll have to admit that I was a bit hesitant at first when Alex initially mentioned the idea. I was honestly somewhat worried that I wouldn’t get enough of Alex’s attention anymore.” Blaine made a little face. “When I admit that, I feel like I’m getting a new sibling and worrying that Daddy won’t have time for me anymore.” Blaine shook his head quickly. “It hasn’t been like that at all. I should have trusted Alex that it wouldn’t. It’s actually been pretty great. Kurt and I are such different skaters that I feel like I’ve learned a lot from him.”

“How so?”

“Well, Kurt is a much more lyrical skater than I am. I’ve always been more of a jumper, more of a technical skater. Alex nicknamed me Tigger when I was younger because he says I have springs in my feet.” Blaine stopped to shrug with a grin at that mention of Alex’s pet name for him. “Kurt’s strength is in the performance. He’s been helping me learn to connect with the music.”

“On that note, you have a very different score this year than we’re used to hearing from you in the past, right?” Amelia asked.

“I do. I’m really excited to see how these programs connect with a crowd, because I really, really love them. Alex and I spent a lot of time talking about music choices for this year. In the past, I’ve always skated to classical soundtracks, but we decided to move away from that this time around. Instead we’ve used Big Band era jazz music for both of them,” Blaine said. “I’m really excited about it. I’ve really enjoyed learning these programs, and I feel like the music is just more me.”

“Well, I’m certainly excited to see you skate tonight. I hear that not only are you sharing a coach with Kurt Hummel, but the two of you are also living together?” Amelia leaned forward, listening intently for that.

Blaine laughed, “Well, we are roommates, but I wouldn’t say that we’re living together. That has quite a different connotation,” he pointed out. “My brother was moving out to his own place, so it just seemed to make sense to have Kurt rent my extra bedroom. I’d lived with my older brother for five years, starting when I moved out to California at 14 to finish high school and train with Alex. Now that I’m nineteen, I no longer need sibling supervision. It’s worked out really well. We have similar standards of neatness, for one thing.” Blaine paused for a moment before he shrugged. “It’s actually been really nice to have Kurt in LA in that respect as well. He’s becoming a good friend as well as a training partner. It’s nice to have someone around all the time who really understands the ups and downs of our lives.”

Amelia smiled as she nodded. Blaine assumed that since she was happy he must have given her some good sound bites in there. “So it sounds like everything is coming together for you, Blaine. You’re happy that you made the decision to come up to the senior level?”

Blaine nodded in what he hoped was a confident manner. “I am. Alex and I had been talking about how we’d know I was ready for this for awhile. In the end, when I was having to hold back jumps to meet the rules of competitions, we knew it was time. I can’t wait for the long program to really get to let loose.”

* * *

 

**IceDance**

Did everyone anyone catch the men’s free skate results from the Lake Placid Invitational tonight? I can’t find them anywhere.

**BladeRunner24**

I’m still waiting anxiously for someone to upload video footage, but here are the scores. (x)

**IceDance**

Whoah. Hummel held onto second place by only a tenth of a point. That was close. Did anyone spot Sylvester there? I bet that would have been an interesting encounter.

**SkateFan97**

Rumor has it that Sylvester wasn’t allowed to be there. I’ve heard that U.S. Figure Skating is doing a full investigation into her coaching practices. Could you imagine what would go down if she got banned?

**FrozenDaze**

Now that is something I’d want a Youtube clip of.

**IceDance**

Anderson dropped down to sixth? Did something happen?

**BladeRunner24**

Blaine fell on his first jump. It was a quad, so not horribly surprising, but it seemed to throw him for the rest of the program, from what I heard.

**SkateFan97**

Wasn’t this his first senior event? I think I’d choke, too.

* * *

 

“Hey, Kurt. I’m making a pot of chili. You want some?” Blaine asked from the kitchen as he heard the front door open a week later. They didn’t eat dinner together every night, but so often it just seemed to be a silly enough effort for both of them to cook when making food for two was just as easy as cooking for one.

“Chili? Isn’t it a little warm out?” Kurt asked as he shut the door behind him, making a beeline across the open living space toward the small kitchen.

“It’s never too warm for chili. That’s sacrilege.” Blaine shook his head, as if Kurt were just speaking nonsense.

“Well, excuse me. I didn’t know that you took your chili so seriously.” Kurt bounced on his toes, too excited to contain his news, even if he was enjoying the banter.

“There are many things you have yet to learn about me.” Blaine turned from stirring the large pot on the stove to raise his eyebrows at Kurt. He’d never seen the other skater quiver with energy the way he was right now, not even before a competition, when Blaine always felt like he was about to jump out of his skin. “Did you chug a whole Monster or something?”

Kurt laughed, the sound coming out even more high pitched than usual. “No! No. I landed it!”

“You landed…” Blaine caught on a moment later, his eyes going wide. “A quad?”

Kurt nodded. “A Salchow. It was in the training harness, but still, I’ve never even done that! And then I stuck the landing on two more before Alex made me call it a night.”

Blaine let the spoon drop into the pot as he turned to pull Kurt into a tight hug. “Harness or not, you landed it! That’s amazing! I’m so proud of you.”

Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine, leaning into the hug for a moment before he pulled back with a huge smile covering his face. “I’m proud of me, too.”

Blaine beamed back, pushing aside any extra thought on just how good it had felt to have Kurt in his arms for later. “This calls for celebration. Why don’t you go call your dad and tell him while I stick this in the fridge. We can have chili tomorrow. Today we should go out. We’ll find somewhere with celebratory cheesecake.”

Kurt nodded with a grin. “I might be too heavy to repeat it tomorrow, but we’ll wait to worry about that until the morning. I’m going to go change and call Dad.” He was already fishing his phone out of his pocket as he turned toward his bedroom.

Blaine watched him go, trying to convince himself he was just basking in his friend’s happiness. That’s all it was. Not an extension of the crush he’d had on Kurt from afar for years now. Certainly not. He turned the stove off and grabbed the pot by the handles only to sigh as he spotted the spoon, fully submerged by now in the dark red liquid filling the pot. That was not going to be fun to retrieve.

* * *

 

“Shut up.” Blaine didn’t even give David a chance to stop ribbing him as the server walked away.

“Aw. Take all the fun out of it.” David pulled his sandwich and salad closer. “It was just- the look on that guy’s face when he realized that you, the little tiny guy, had ordered two complete meals.”

Blaine wrinkled his nose, trying not to laugh. He couldn’t let David know that he’d thought that look was funny, too. “I’m hungry. Do you know how many calories I burn a day?” He glanced down at the table. “Besides, I ordered a salad and soup.”

“Your ordered a giant bowl of salad with steak on it and bread bowl full of soup that I know you plan to eat.” David stabbed his fork down into his smaller salad.

“Well, what’s the point of a bread bowl if you’re not planning to eat it?” Blaine asked, dipping his spoon down into his soup. “That would just be a huge waste of some really good sourdough bread. A bread bowl full of turkey chili? That’s the absolute best thing on the menu here.”

“Sure, sure,” David shook his head. “I can’t believe that this summer is over.”

“I know!” Blaine sighed. “Classes start next week, and you’ll be moving back into the dorms.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m heading to the other side of the planet. I go to UCLA,” David reminded him. “You can always come visit and get the real college experience.”

“Maybe. Can I sleep on your futon and drink lots of cheap beer?” Blaine asked.

“Done. We’ll go on a panty raid, because I know that you want to find lots of cute co-eds. Then maybe we’ll find a frat party to crash.”

“Well, if you’re giving me the ‘real college experience’ then I certainly expect such things.” Blaine sighed as he settled back into the booth they were sitting across from each other in. “Sometimes I wish that I could have that. I’d love the chance to live in a tiny dorm room and wake up ten minutes before class. To go to parties and bring home cute boys.” He ripped a piece off of the edge of his bread bowl, rubbing the bit of bread between his fingers. “Mostly I just think about the chance to not have so much pressure on me. I can’t imagine life without that level of expectation bearing down.”

“Your parents would find something else to put pressure on you about, I’m sure.” David replied seriously. “Are they giving you a hard time again?”

“I didn’t place in Lake Placid. I probably won’t place at Nationals. My mother will have nothing to brag about this year, and I’m hearing about it. As if just the fact that I’m skating at fucking Nationals isn’t enough.” Blaine let out a short sigh. “It’s nothing new. Nothing I’m not used to.”

“The whole skating thing not going well?” David asked sincerely.

“It is. Alex and I talked about this last winter. We talked about it a lot actually. I made a big jump this year moving from the junior level to the senior level. That puts my skating in a whole new scoring category. There is more that I am allowed to do, but there’s also more pressure to perform well and to not screw up.” Blaine tossed his little chunk of bread, ground into a sphere by this point, down into what remained of his chili. “The level of competition is also higher. I’m now one of the younger less experienced skaters in the group instead of the other way around. Anyway, the skating itself is going well. I placed sixth at Lake Placid. Alex and I were both really happy about that.”

“How did Kurt do?” David asked, grabbing his sandwich to tear it into two pieces. “He was there, too, right?”

Blaine nodded. “He was. He skated really well, I thought. He came in third.” Blaine hesitated a moment before deciding to share Kurt’s big news.”He’s been having trouble with getting any of the really big jumps mastered. Not that he’s not awesome at a lot of complicated ones. He hit one of them this week, and he’s landed it several more times since. I’m so proud of him because that will pull together everything for him. He’s such a beautiful skater to watch that with this quad? There’s no stopping him now.”

David tried to contain a grin and failed. “So, that crush? Not going away all that well, huh?”

Blaine let out a quick bark of a laugh. “No. Not so much. I thought that I could get over it. We’d just be friends, because that certainly seems to be what he wants. But he’s just so… Kurt. I probably look like a silly puppy falling over myself in front of him. I feel like such an idiot sometimes, but he seems to be totally oblivious to it all. I’d swear that he thinks he’s ugly or something.”

“Alright, I’m straight, and even I can tell that isn’t true. Isn’t he just the type that you gay guys go for?” David grinned over, showing the tease in the words.

“Stereotype. Such a stereotype, though in this case? So true.” Blaine bit his lip. “What am I supposed to do about this?”

“You’re asking me? Am I supposed to be some sort of love guru?” David asked. “Have you considered telling him how you feel?”

“What? Sit him down and say, I really like your ass and I’d love to kiss you until our lips are sore?” Blaine shook his head. “That would go really well.”

David laughed. “Well, maybe not in those exact words. Though maybe you could start with some off hand comments. See how he responds. I do that sometimes with girls when I’m trying to see if they’re interested. I’ll compliment their clothes or their hair or sometime. Like, ‘Your hair looks really nice today.’ Nothing too leering. Then I can see if they’d be receptive at least.”

Blaine considered that as he kept eating. “I guess I could try that. He has the best hair. I wish mine would do half of what he can do with his. And his eyes? So gorgeous. Plus, he dresses wonderfully. He has this amazing sense of fashion. When he’s dressed in normal clothes, off ice, he just flat out looks like a model.”

“You have it bad.” David couldn’t keep a smirk off of his face any longer.

“I know I do. It doesn’t help that I live with him. He came out of the bathroom in just a towel the other day, and I just about swallowed my tongue. And it’s not just that he’s hot. He’s also really funny, and we’re becoming really good friends. I guess that’s my fear here. I don’t want to lose my friend or make living together super awkward if he’s really not interested.”

“That’s why you start out slowly instead of jumping into one of your grand gestures. Probably not the best time to serenade him on the rink or show up with a dozen roses.” David turned the focus. “But what if he really does like you? What if he just doesn’t know what to do about those feelings? You could be missing out on something really great because you’re afraid.”

* * *

 

Blaine passed Kurt the bouquet of lilies they’d picked up at Trader Joe’s on the way over, before he reached up to ring the bell. “Just remember, you know Alex, and Amy is really nice. This will go well. Just don’t over think it. Let it happen.”

Kurt nodded, unable to respond as the door opened.

“Blaine! I’m so glad we finally got you over. This took far too long to plan.” Amy reached out to pull Blaine into a tight hug.

“It did. I can’t believe that it’s already the middle of September.” Blaine shook his head. “It feels like it was just the start of the summer yesterday, and it’s already become fall.”

“We picked these up for you to thank you for having us over.” Kurt offered over the flowers, taking the safe route of ways to join the conversation.

Amy beamed over at him, wrapping him in a half hug, unlike the tight squeeze Blaine had received. “Those are beautiful! I’ll have to go find a vase for them. They could make a great center piece. Come on in, boys.”

She led the way into the mid-century house Kurt had so admired two months before. It was much quieter now, without the press of people all around them. Tonight, it would just be the four of them sitting down for a nice meal. “Would either of you like something to drink?”

“Water would be great.” Blaine said, kicking off his shoes to pile them near the door.

Kurt followed Blaine’s example, glad he’d worn a nicer pair of socks. “Water would be great for me as well.”

Amy nodded, gesturing to the couch. “Why don’t you take a seat? I’m sure that Alex will be out in a minute. He just had an email from U.S. Skating, and he needed to call them about it.”

Kurt sank down into an armchair, taking the option that would press him up against the least number of people.

Blaine moved to the couch, taking a seat on the end closest to Kurt. “So, you excited for a home cooked meal?”

“You mean that what we make doesn’t count?” Kurt asked. “I certainly cook a lot of meals in our home.”

Blaine shrugged sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to insult-” He stopped at the sound of Kurt’s laughter. “Fine, fine. Make fun of me when I’m just excited for some food that reminds me of my mother’s cooking. Or well, it might if my mother was known to cook.”

“Your mother doesn’t know how to cook?” Kurt asked curiously.

“Well, I think she probably knows how, but she doesn’t. Usually she just pays someone to do it or picks up take out.” Blaine shrugged. “That sounds kind of snooty out loud, but it’s just my mom. She works long hours, so the last thing she wanted to do when she finally got home was spend time cooking. My father would never be found doing something like that, either. Not manly enough, and too much work. I mean, he works hard at the office, but as far as house work goes?” Blaine laughed. “When I moved out here, I had to teach myself so that Coop and I wouldn’t starve.”

“And didn’t I help out with that?” Amy walked back in to pass them each bottles of water before she took a seat on the couch.

“You did. You definitely did.” Blaine took a bottle as he turned toward Kurt. “Amy held cooking lessons for me in her kitchen. It was pretty comical at first. I tried to get Coop to come with, but he never would.”

Kurt took his bottle with a quick “Thanks” before he just grinned at Blaine, trying to let himself relax. “I learned to cook by necessity as well. After my mom passed away, it was just Dad and I for, um, right about 8 years before Carole and Finn came into the picture. Dad really did try to feed the both of us well, but if I wanted to be eating something other than mac and cheese and anything that can be cooked on a grill, I had to make it a reality. Thank goodness my dad was pretty patient about some of the gigantic messes I made in the kitchen along the way. He’d walk in to find the kitchen covered in my attempts to make a good paella and just toss me a dishrag and say we’d better start cleaning up. No judgment, just ‘this is a mess, we’d better clean it up’.”

“Your dad sounds like a really great guy,” Amy said. “I hope I’ll get to meet him at some point.”

“I think that he and Carole are going to come out for Christmas. Maybe we can get together then.” Kurt didn’t know what made him offer that so fast. He still was a little nervous that he was going to make an idiot out of himself, and Amy would turn Alex against him. Why would he offer to quickly to bring his parents into that mix?

“That sounds great. They’re not bringing your stepbrother?” Amy asked.

Blaine shook his head over at Amy trying to cut off that line of questioning, but it was too late.

Kurt fiddled his thumb over a loose flap on the label of the water bottle shifting uncomfortably as he shook his head. Amy had known so much about his history with skating that he was honestly rather surprised to find that she didn’t know about this part of his life. “Finn passed away last year. There was a car accident and-” Kurt cut off the story with a shrug. “That’s one reason Dad and I thought Christmas out here might be good. Less sad memories for all of us, but especially for Carole.”

Blaine nodded, “That makes sense. I can go sleep on Cooper’s couch, if you want to give them my room.”

Kurt stared over at Blaine, more than a little bit floored that Blaine would inconvenience himself so much without a second thought, just to make things easier for Kurt’s family. “I couldn’t ask you to do that. I’ll take the couch, and they can have my room. You don’t need to leave your own house just for them.” He paused, running the pad of his thumb over that loose bit of wrapper. “We can talk about this later.”

Alex stopped any further conversation on the matter when he burst into the room with a huge smile on his face. “I have great news! I was talking to U.S. Figure Skating. I’ve been trying to nail down our Fall schedule, and after your performance at Jr. World’s and at Lake Placid, they decided to add you to the roster for Skate America, Blaine! Morgan is going to have to drop out to nurse an injury, nothing too serious, and they want Blaine to take his spot on the roster. That means we have you both at the same Grand Prix qualifier.”

Blaine sat up straighter, raising his eyebrows. “Really? In a month?”

Alex shrugged, “We’ll have you ready. No problem. It’s right around Sectionals anyway. But this is wonderful!”

“It is,” Kurt agreed. “It’s nice that not only do you get to go compete, but I’ll have another chance to beat you.”

Blaine couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Or maybe I’ll turn the tables. Maybe I’ll be the one to win this round.”

“You can try,” Kurt teased right back.

“Boys, boys. You still have weeks to argue about this. Let’s go have a nice dinner,” Amy admonished, though the smile still on her face showed just how seriously she was taking their rivalry.

* * *

 

Dinner made Kurt wonder if Amy had any midwestern roots. There was just something in the meal of pork chops, roast potatoes, and green beans that felt like home. The conversation flowed as the homey food was eaten. Any concerns he’d had about somehow managing to mess this up faded away in banter with Blaine and talk of his retail job and what was in style this season with Amy.

“Kurt, can you help with bringing in the plates and getting dessert?” Amy asked, pausing to raise a hand at the possibility of rejection of the idea of dessert. “I promise that the dessert is just about the healthiest part of this meal.”

Kurt nodded. “Of course.” There was no way he was going to not, when she’s specifically asked him to help. He gathered up all of the dinner plates as Amy carried in the serving dishes.

“Just pile those in the sink. I’ll make Alex get them later,” Amy said when they got to the kitchen. She pulled a bowl of frozen bananas out from the freezer. “Have you ever tried this trick? You do like banana’s right?”

“What trick is that?” Kurt asked curiously as he piled the dishes up as instructed. “And yes, I’m fond of them. I really like adding one to any smoothies I make. Makes it creamier.”

“Well, this is sort of based off of that. If you blend frozen bananas, it has a texture similar to ice cream. Tastes amazing, too, especially since we’re going to blend some peanut butter in with it.” She set the bananas down on the counter, turning back to pull a glass jar of natural peanut butter out of the fridge.

“Peanut butter and banana is a great combination.” Kurt pulled out one of the barstools on the other side of the island, taking a seat on it as Amy got her stand mixer set up.

“So, you and Blaine?” Amy jumped right into it as she started dumping the bowl of quartered frozen bananas into the bowl of the mixer.

“What about Blaine and I?” Kurt asked, feeling his heart jump in his chest, afraid of what kind of connotation her words held.

“That’s exactly what I was wondering,” Amy grinned impishly. “What about you and Blaine?”

“He’s my roommate?” Kurt tried. “And he’s becoming a good friend. I honestly haven’t had a whole lot of good friends, and it’s really nice to have one that understands so much of the craziness of this whole life.”

Amy nodded at that, before she gave a coy little shrug. “And that’s all you want to be? Friends?”

Kurt could feel the blush heating his face, much to his dismay. “I don’t know how to be anything else.”

“Which doesn’t answer the question of whether you’d like to be,” Amy pointed out as she added several spoonfuls of peanut butter. “I saw the way you were looking at him tonight. He is rather cute, isn’t he?”

Kurt’s eyes went wide. Had he really been that obvious? “He is. But right now just having him as a friend is a new enough experience. I think that anything else can wait.”

“For how long?” Amy asked not waiting for an answer before started the mixer. “Can you grab the bottle of chocolate sauce out of the fridge?” She asked above the noise of the blending bananas, seemingly not wanting to press the matter too much more, tonight at least.

* * *

 

“This is our room,” Blaine said, checking the number on the wall against the number on the little paper packet he was holding. The month had flown by between an increased training schedule in preparation besides classes, for Blaine, and work, for Kurt. The flight had been much more welcome this time as a chance to relax in one spot for an extended length of time. It had also helped that Alex had booked them on a daytime flight this time, landing them in Chicago in the later afternoon.

“Good. I want the chance to freshen up after all that time crammed in with strangers more than anything. Do you think I have time for a full shower?” Kurt asked, pulling his suitcase behind him as he waited for Blaine to open the card lock.

The little light on the door handle turned green, and Blaine pushed it open, revealing a standard hotel room with two queen beds, a TV, and a tiny table stuck in the corner. “I think you should be fine so long as you don’t plan to stay in until you start to wrinkle,” Blaine said after a quick glance down at his watch. “We aren’t meeting Alex for dinner until 6:30.”

Kurt nodded, lifting his suitcase up onto the bed, anxious to find his little toiletry kit and a change of clothes. “You don’t mind if I hog the bathroom, do you?” He asked, only after he’d made a pile of what he wanted to take in. As much as they shared as roommates, this was even closer. It had made sense, though, they’d all agreed, for Kurt and Blaine to share a room, rather than one of them ending up sharing with Alex.

“Not at all. I really want to just stretch. My legs feel so tight and stiff after staying in the same position for four hours. I can do that while you’re in the shower.” Blaine propped his own suitcase up against the wall next to the other bed, taking Kurt’s suitcase as a claim staked on the closer one.

“Perfect. Oh my God, this is going to be wonderful,” Kurt enthused as he grabbed his pile and headed into the bathroom.

* * *

 

Kurt was very glad he’d had time to shower and to change into something other than travel clothes when he found out that Alex had planned dinner out of the hotel that night. Sue had made sure that he’d eaten a diet very strictly controlled by her this close to competitions. The sometimes elaborate plans had never been anything like Alex taking them out for Chicago-style deep dish pizza with an admonishment that this was the last time they’d be eating anything like this until after they’d finished the competition.

After dinner, Alex had made his way back to the hotel with instructions to not get into too much trouble and to be back by ten.

Blaine had given Kurt a quick smile. “We’re not too far from Navy Pier? Come with me?”

Kurt hadn’t been able to resist the pleading look that went with those words. “Sure. It beats sitting in a little room with nothing to distract myself from nervousness.”

“Exactly! I’ve always wanted to go there at night.” Blaine pulled out his phone, googling the bus schedule.

“You never have? It’s nice, with the lights of the city one direction and the dark of the lake in the other.” Kurt stopped as they came across the shelter of a bus stop. “Bus or cab?”

“Bus, I think. I’m just pulling up the route now.”

* * *

 

Blaine tucked his hands deeper into his pockets, resisting the urge to reach over and grab one of Kurt’s hands. This wasn’t a date. No matter how much it felt like it, it wasn’t. He’d been reminding himself of that ever since they’d ridden that ferris wheel together.

“This was a nice night. Sue would never have set me free to do this when we were traveling for a competition,” Kurt said.

Blaine shrugged with a smile over, trying not to focus on how close Kurt was walking next to him as they strolled along the end of the pier. “Well, Alex did set us a pretty early curfew considering that would only be 8 on the West Coast.”

“After he took us for pizza,”  Kurt pointed out. “That’s not exactly healthy pre-competition food.”

“Well, he’ll make sure we eat healthy tomorrow and the actual days we are competing, but we still have a whole day of practice and media events tomorrow before we step foot on the ice for the judges.” Blaine paused, gesturing to a bench next to them in invitation. He wasn’t quite ready to finish their walk and have no excuse but to end the night yet. Not even when he was sharing a hotel room with Kurt. He had to admit David was right. He had it bad. “It’s kind of a tradition. Alex loves the pizza here, says that it’s the best place in the world for it. So every time we come here we stop for pizza on the first night if we can and the last if we couldn’t. So be prepared for him to suggest it again once we’re done competing. He’d probably say that it’s good luck if you asked him, but really, it’s just one of his favorite foods.”

Kurt laughed as he took a seat on the bench, rubbing at his cold arms through the maroon sweater he’d chosen. “I should have expected as much. That seems like a very Alex thing. I’m really glad that he agreed to coach me. Not only was he able to actually help me nail things that I’d never been able to master with Sue, he’s just plain nice. I think that I needed someone with that kind of personality to learn how things could actually work between a skater and coach.”

“You mean that one can be smiling and joking around at the same time that he pushes you past what you thought were your limits?” Blaine joked as he settled beside Kurt, making an effort not to sit closer than needed, no matter how tempted he was. There was just something about seeing Kurt in a soft sweater in the light of the street lamps that made him even more attractive than normal.

“Exactly. He doesn’t expect anything less of us than another coach I’ve worked with, he just has a nicer way of asking for it.” Kurt shook his head. “It’s been a nice change. I don’t know if I ever would have mastered any quad with Sue, partly because, looking back, I’m not sure that she really knew how to teach me to pull it off, but also because the more I would struggle, the more she would yell. The more she would yell, the harder it would get to land anything. It was a vicious cycle.”

“I’m glad you’re not stuck in it now,” Blaine said honestly. “I’m really selfishly glad that you came out to L.A. and that we got to train together. I once asked Alex how he gets away with never having to yell at a skater. What does he do with skaters that don’t listen, you know?” Blaine waited for Kurt’s nod before he continued. “Alex said that he doesn’t coach those types of skaters. I guess there are so many people who want to work with him that he can just tell someone to go find another coach if they aren’t listening to him. Now, I can’t say that he never had a stern word for me when I was young and stupid, but I needed those lectures.”

Kurt laughed, “It’s hard to imagine what you must have been like at fifteen with no parents around.” He stood, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. “I know that we have some time left before our bus home turns into a pumpkin, but I’m starting to freeze. I’d forgotten that October weather in Chicago is cooler than L.A. I should have brought a jacket. Can we either head back or find somewhere that’s inside and heated?”

 

* * *

 

Kurt glanced around the convention space nervously as he followed Alex through the crowd of people. He hadn’t been too excited about the idea of doing this expo when Alex had presented the idea. It wasn’t that he didn’t like talking to skating fans. He did. He even understood how important keeping fans happy was to the future of the sport. Sitting behind a table while fan after fan came to talk to him and take pictures was more than a little bit intimidating, though. But his presence had been specifically requested by U.S. Figure Skating, so how could he say no?

“You ready for this, Kurt?” Alex asked as he found the table with a large poster bearing Kurt’s image next to it.

“As ready as I’ll ever get,” Kurt muttered. “I think I’ll just channel Blaine. He’d have the whole crowd eating out of his hands.”

Alex laughed at that image, “He would. Just relax and enjoy the attention. You’re a performer in your own right. Enjoy this bit of the spotlight.”

Kurt nodded, not wanting to admit that the real reason he was nervous about doing this today was the probability that he’d have to answer question after question about the video. “Enjoy the spotlight. Right.”

“The two hours will fly by. Then we’ll meet up with Blaine for dinner. After dinner, the two of you are sitting down with ESPN for an interview together.” Alex ran through their schedule quickly. “When’s your dad coming in?”

“He’s driving up first thing in the morning, so he’ll be here a little before noon.” Kurt let the repeating of details Alex probably already knew serve it’s purpose and smooth his nerves.

“Right. We’ll make sure you get some time to talk between morning practice and the competition, even if it’s a rushed lunch.” Alex smiled at the woman standing behind the table as they finally reached it. “Afternoon! I’m Alex Wilson. Nice to meet you.”

The petite, Asian woman took Alex’s outstretched hand with a smile. “Wendy Tran. It’s really nice to meet you. And you must be Kurt?”

Kurt nodded, forcing a public, smiling mask onto his face. “Kurt Hummel. Nice to meet you, too.” He knew there was no way he could be mistaken for anyone else. Not with his official photograph blown up on the poster next to the table. Or with the way he was dressed for that matter. His usual sense of fashion had given way to the Team USA Figure Skating jacket he’d worn for the last Olympics. He was even wearing his Bronze Medal from the team competition around his neck.

“You two are right on time. I’ll be staying here with you, Kurt, to manage any lines that might form and to make sure that everything runs smoothly. It’s my job to make sure the fans behave and that you have anything you need. So let me know if there are any problems, alright?” Wendy led them back behind the table. “Are you staying, Alex?”

“I’m not. I have to go attend to some last minute details. You’re going to do great, Kurt. Just remember to smile and enjoy the attention. Alright?” Alex waited for Kurt’s nod before he took his leave.

“Alright. Have you done one of these before?” Wendy asked as she offered Kurt  a chair, taking the other one for herself.

“I haven’t. I’m just supposed to smile and sign pictures?” Kurt asked, glancing over at the large pile of pictures of him skating in what he recognized as his long program costume from the year before. It was actually a really good picture of himself, he was relieved to see.

“Pretty much. A lot of fans will also want to take a picture with you. Most of the time, I’ll have them just lean across the table and snap a shot with their phones, but there might be a few VIPs we pose an actual shot for. If the fans are getting too much in your personal space, let me know, alright? It’s part of my job to make sure that you’re comfortable. This should be a good experience for everyone.” Wendy passed over a pair of Sharpies.

“Oh my gosh. Kurt Hummel? I love your skating!”

Kurt made sure that his public mask was firmly in place as the first fan, a woman closer to Carole’s age than his own, approached the table. “Thank you! I love doing it.”

“I saw you live at Nationals last year. Your artistry blew me away. I couldn’t believe it when my friend showed me that video. How could someone say such horrible things to someone as nice as you?”

Kurt was suddenly glad that Blaine had insisted on practicing responses to this when Kurt had admitted his fear on how the fan event would go the night before as they sat in their hotel room. “I found a great new coach, and I’m very happy to be working with Alexander Wilson and just focusing on skating.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see you skate again tomorrow. It’s inspiring to see how you’ve pushed through this whole mess.”

“Thank you.” Kurt took the picture Wendy offered him. “Who can I make this out to?”

* * *

 

Kurt spotted his father standing across the lobby of the hotel the moment he stepped out of the elevator. A huge smile came to his face as he sped across the marble floor on feet that suddenly felt a hundred pounds lighter. “Dad!”

“Kurt. It’s so good to see you.” Burt swept Kurt up into a tight hug as soon as he was close enough. Kurt knew he’d missed his father, but just how much he’d missed him didn’t hit until he could feel a part of him relax in his dad’s arms.

Kurt reluctantly stepped back, aware that he was in public and had appearances to keep up. “I’ve missed you. Skype is good, but not as good as having you here.”

“I’m glad that I made it up to see you skate. Carole was pretty sad that she wasn’t able to change her shift and come as well.” Burt glanced around and gestured over to the tables set up where a continental breakfast was winding down. “You have a minute to sit and talk?”

“I have about ten or fifteen of them before Alex comes to find me to head to the rink. I’m sure he’ll let you ride along with us.” Kurt chose a table out of the way, taking a seat on one side. “The competition starts at two, and I drew the sixth spot for the short program.”

Burt nodded at that information. “I know, Kurt. I’ve got a ticket.” He patted the pocket of his flannel shirt. He gave Kurt an appraising look. “You look good. Happy.”

“I am. Nervous that I’m going to make a fool of myself on the ice despite the number of times I’ve skated the program cleanly, but still happy,” Kurt said. “I really miss you, but I’m still glad I went to L.A. It’s been a good change.”

“Seems like it. You still liking that coach and that roommate of yours?” Burt asked.

“Alex is wonderful. It was worth moving across the country to train with him. I can see why he gets to pick and choose who he coaches.” Kurt hesitated for a moment, hoping that his father wouldn’t catch the blush he knew was coming as he talked about Blaine. “That roommate? Blaine is a good friend. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who’s not only my age, but who understands this world.”

Burt just gave Kurt a knowing look as he nodded. “Good. I’m glad to see you’ve made… friends. I know that you were lonely in Ohio, whether you admitted to it or not.”

“He really is just a friend,” Kurt insisted, feeling almost relieved to see Blaine and Alex walking across the lobby. “Oh. It must be later than I thought. There will be a lot more time tonight after I skate. You’re staying right?”

“Of course. I want to see you skate tomorrow as well,” Burt said. “You’re going to be great, Kid. I know it.”

Kurt shot his dad a quick smile, grateful for the words of encouragement. “Alex, you met my dad in L.A., right?”

* * *

 

**“Welcome back to ESPN 3’s coverage of the Skate America competition. This evening we are bringing you the Men’s Free Skate.”**

_“That’s right, and it has been a great competition so far. We’ve seen some great skating already tonight. For those of you just tuning in, the order in which skater’s compete tonight was determined by their ranking after yesterday afternoon’s Short Program.”_

**“That’s right, and our next skater is definitely a newcomer to be watched.”**

_“Yes, Blaine Anderson was in sixth place the short program, which is quite a feat for a skater that just moved up from the junior level this year.”_

**“Anderson is the reigning Jr. National Champion and placed second in last year’s Jr. World Championship, so he is no stranger to competition.”**

_“No, he definitely is not. Anderson is an especially skilled jumper, so I’m excited to see what he had put into this long program, where skaters have more freedom to choose their own jumps.”_

**“I have a feeling that we’re going to see our first landed quadruple jumps of the night. We know that Anderson has not one but two quad’s in his arsenal.”**

_“His coach, the world famous Alexander Wilson, sat down to talk to me about his skaters earlier today. He told me that one of the things that factored into the decision that it was time for Anderson to move into the senior level was those jumps. They both felt like Anderson had reached a point where he had the skills to really compete nationally at the senior level. In fact, Wilson’s nickname for Anderson is Tigger, because he says that kid has springs instead of feet.”_

**“There he goes out onto the ice after some no doubt wise words from his coach. Anderson has chosen a program this year centered around Jazz music. I will say one thing about Wilson, he’s crafted programs for both his skaters here today that are fast and energetic.”**

_“Which will be very different from what we’ve seen in the past from his second skater, Kurt Hummel. I watched them both in practice earlier this week, and Wilson has definitely created some very high energy programs. Anderson told me that was exactly what he’d expected, that his coach demands nothing less than their very, very best.”_

**“And I love his costuming choices this year. He looks very dapper in that plaid vest with his hair gelled that way.”**

_“Not a sequin in sight and you still love the costume? This day must go down in the history books._

* * *

 

_“That was a great program from Blaine Anderson. That standing ovation from the crowd is justified in this case.”_

**“He’s really made great progress as a performer over the last few years. He may not have the dramatic flair on the ice of some of the other skaters, but he’s always been just plain fun to watch. He had the whole audience right there with him.”**

_“That program was also very technically strong, something the judges should reward him for. His coach certainly looks happy about it.”_

**“And the scores are in. A free skate score of 160.54. That’s a new personal best for Anderson and will put him into first place for the moment, with five more skaters to go.”**

* * *

 

Kurt stepped out onto the ice letting out a long breath as he tried to banish his nervousness. He’d skated in front of crowds of just a few parents and televised audiences of millions of people across the world. No matter what, some amount of nervousness always held him in its grip, at least until the first notes of his music started. He shook out his arms, glad for the comfortable costume of a peasant’s shirt and open vest with a soft sash around his waist.

“I can never tell if you look more like a French revolutionary or a pirate in that.” A voice called over the crowd.

Kurt turned, laughter cutting through the nerves to see Blaine leaning across the railing with a skating club jacket thrown over his own costume. “You look like you can’t decide what look you want there either. Skating bum or debonair gentleman.” He skated up to lean against the other side of the boards. “You came to watch me skate?”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Blaine peeled his jacket off for a moment to make a silly pose. “You really think I’m debonair?”

“Is now the time for this conversation?” Kurt glanced over to Alex, unsure of whether he should be going over for any last words of advice.

Alex just shook his head, pointing to Blaine instead.

“I’m here to get you in the right mindset to attempt revolution.” Blaine joked before he leaned forward to speak softly and seriously right into Kurt’s ear. “All kidding aside, you are going to do great. Stop worrying about the quad. You’re going to nail it and knock their socks off. I can’t wait to watch it happen. I’ll be right here to give you a big high five when you’re done. Got it?”

Kurt nodded, letting out another breath as he reached out to give Blaine a quick hug. “Got it.”

“Now go show them just how awesome you are.” He gave Kurt’s shoulders a quick squeeze before he pulled back.

Kurt nodded. He took one more moment to center himself and skated straight to center stage, striking his opening pose as he waited for the music to start.

 

* * *

 

**“The competition has been fierce tonight, and we still have two more skaters to go!”**

_“That’s right. Up next is Kurt Hummel, the silver medalist in last year’s National Championship and a member of the US Olympic Team from last year’s Sochi games.”_

**“Hummel has had quite the tumultuous year since those games.”**

_“Yes. It was shortly after the World Championships that a cell phone video was released on the internet of his former coach, Sue Sylvester, berating the skater.”_

**“That confrontation only worked in Hummel’s advantage in the long run, it seems. In the months following he moved his training location from Dayton, Ohio to Los Angeles to work with Alexander Wilson, who is arguably one of the best coaches in the world of skating today.”**

_“His short program was some of the sharpest, cleanest skating we’ve seen from Hummel. Wilson seems to have a great impact in helping him combine a clean technical program with the lyricism Hummel is known for.”_

**“That was some great skating. Of particular interest today is whether Hummel is going to put a quad jump into his program.”**

_“True! Hummel has never landed one in competition, but in practice this week, he was spotted practicing a successful quadruple Salchow. That would provide a nice boost to Hummel’s technical score.”_

**“It would. I was lucky enough to have the chance to sit down to talk to Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson, currently in second place, about how it has worked to share a coach and a training facility.”**

The image of the rink faded away to footage of Kurt and Blaine sitting next to each other in armchairs.

“I was really worried initially that it would become a big fight or this source of tension, but in the end it’s been great,” Kurt said.

Blaine nodded, leaning against the armrest in between them. “It’s been wonderful. We really are good friends even outside the rink. In the rink, I think that we push each other to be better. There’s definitely a mix of collaboration and friendly competition. I can’t wait for the day we can finish one-two in a competition.”

“And of course I’ll be the one.” Kurt’s tone was obviously teasing as the scene on the television returned to the rink.

**“And it doesn’t appear to be just a press line either. Not when Anderson is the one giving Hummel what is traditionally a coach’s last minute pep talk.”**

_“That hopefully won’t last too much longer. We don’t want Hummel to be late starting. Oh, there he goes.”_

**“Hummel is utilizing some rather dramatic music from Broadway musicals this year. Tonight’s long program is set to songs from the Broadway classic Les Miserables.”**

_“Hummel is one of the few male skaters we’ve seen in the last 20 years that could accomplish the dramatic artistry of this program. If he can pull off a strong technical program to go with it, he may well move into the lead tonight.”_

**“A win here would be his first ever gold in a senior level event. What an achievement that would be for Hummel, especially coming off of the controversy and change in coaches.”**

_“And coming up here is where Hummel would put the quad in if he chooses.”_

**“There we go! With a beautiful landing. The judges will check the footage to see if that had full rotation, but if it did, that will be a huge score boost for Hummel.”**

 

* * *

 

Kurt couldn’t keep the huge grin off of his face as he took his bows. Coming up out of his performance mindset to the roar of the crowd was something he never wanted to forget. Especially not on a night like today, when he felt like everything had gone so perfectly. He could just feel it down to his bones. That performance had been one of his best ever.

“Congratulations!” Alex called as Kurt made it to the edge of the ice.

Kurt took the guards for his skate blades that Alex offered, barely getting them put on before he felt himself get pulled up into a big hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” Alex whispered before he let Kurt go. “That was a wonderful skate. No matter what these scores show, I know that you left it all out there.”

Kurt felt laughter bubble up inside him. He couldn’t help but like this post skating moment much better than any note of gruff praise that was the most he could ever hope for from Sue. “Thank you! It went well, right?”

“It went wonderfully.” Alex led the way over to the seating area, putting them in front of cameras with the logos of the events sponsors covering the wall behind them.

Kurt gave the camera a quick wave and a big grin before one of the younger skaters volunteering for the event brought over an armful of flowers. He clasped them tightly, hoping that they could keep his hands from shaking with excitement and a sudden flash of worry. What if this score turned out to not be what they hoped? Could he handle the disappointment on camera?

“The score for Kurt Hummel is 172.59.”

Kurt felt stunned as that score hit him. He could feel Alex pull him into another hug, as the numbers slowly sunk in. That was a personal best, not just for this season but for any time he’d skated.

* * *

 

Kurt wasn’t really sure how he got from the Kiss and Cry area to the back hallways of the rink. Everything was a blur of wonder and joy. Someone must have taken the flowers out of his arms, because by the time he spotted Blaine, they were free to pull his friend into a tight, excited hug. “Did you see?”

“I did. You were amazing. It’s only Daniels, left, right?” Blaine tilted his head, resting it on Kurt’s shoulder for a moment longer than necessary before he pulled away.

“Right. But I’ve never beat him.” The real world came crashing back. This was still a competition, and there was no guarantee that he would win. Just because he had done well, didn’t mean that someone else would do just as well or better.

“Let’s find a TV. See how he does.” Blaine didn’t seem to want to go rinkside. Instead he tugged on Kurt’s hand, keeping it clasped in his as they headed farther back into the maze of corridors, pausing only when he found a live feed of the last skater, Martin Daniels, taking the ice.

Kurt squeezed Blaine’s hand tightly in his, taking comfort from his friend, or at least that’s what he told himself. “I don’t know if I can watch this.”

“I can. Close your eyes if you have to, and I’ll tell you what happens.” Blaine offered.

“That would be even worse.” Kurt laughed. “I should just cross my fingers or something.”

“I’ll even cross my toes.” Blaine turned his head to grin right at Kurt for a moment before he turned back to the screen just in time to wince. “Well, he didn’t stick that landing. That’ll cost some points. A quad is all well and good, but having to put your hand down on the landing is not so great. It throws you off balance if nothing else.”

Blaine continued to make comments for the rest of the skate, not seeming to mind that Kurt had chosen to watch quietly. As Daniels struck his last pose, Blaine let go of Kurt’s hand, turning to rest his hands instead on each of Kurt’s shoulders. “You were better. No matter what happens in the next moments, remember that. You were the best skater out there on the rink tonight.”

“Even better than you?” Kurt asked, tearing his gaze from the screen to meet Blaine’s eyes.

“Even better than me.” A soft smile spread across Blaine’s face. “I might be a little biased though. I always like watching you.”

Kurt tilted his head to the side, a mixture of curiosity and joy fluttering in his mind as he saw the clear display of emotions on Blaine’s face. “You do?”

“I do-” Blaine stopped as the announcer on the television read Daniels’ score.

“That near fall really hurt Daniels’ technical scores leaving him with marks of 168.37. That will put Martin Daniels in second place and give the victory for tonight to Kurt Hummel.”

Any more words fell on deaf ears as Blaine turned, pulling Kurt into his arms.

Kurt expected another hug, more congratulations, but instead he got the press of warm lips to his. He smiled into the rather chaste kiss, pulling back just far enough to beam down at Blaine. “You do.”

“I- I’m sorry. I should have asked you before I just kissed you. I was just so happy and-”

Kurt cut off Blaine’s ramblings with another, deeper kiss.

“I should have known.” A third voice cut in, and Kurt could feel his face flush with heat as he turned to spot Alex watching them with an amused look on his face. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow. Right now, you’ve got a medal to go collect, Kurt. It’s your time to shine in the spotlight.”

* * *

 

**IceDance**

Did you see the competition tonight? Blaine and Kurt have got to be dating. They were so adorable together.

**BladeRunner24**

(Pic of Blaine’s pep talk for Kurt)

You mean this? I sure did. If Klaine isn’t on, I don’t know that that moment was. They sure are great friends at the very least.

**FrozenDaze**

Friends? Does this look like friends?

(Gif of Blaine hugging Kurt at the end of his pep talk.)

I hug all my friends like that before they compete. Sure. Klaine is definitely on.

**IceDance**

That and the puppy dog look on Blaine’s face in that interview they did together. He is so smitten he couldn’t even stay out of Kurt’s personal space.

That hug gif, though. I’ll be staring at that all night. Do you ever just want to smush them together and say “Now kiss”?

**FrozenDaze**

This was a wonderful night. Kurt’s smile up on that podium made my whole year. If only Blaine was beside him. #i believe in klaine

**SkateFan97**

My baby did it! Can you imagine how big that smile will be next time when Blaine is standing there next to him?

* * *

 

They’d celebrated after the medals ceremony. There had been rounds of photos to take and a sound clip to give to the same interviewer from the day before. By the time they got back to the hotel, Blaine wanted nothing more than a few minutes alone with Kurt to process everything. His brain couldn’t help but spin webs of doubt. What if Kurt regretted it? What if it was just the heat of the moment? Maybe in the morning Kurt would wake up and tell him that he never wanted to be more than friends.

Even now, walking across the lobby of their hotel, they still didn’t have time to talk. Blaine could feel the eyes of everyone in the lobby following them. He could have kissed Kurt, again, when he piped up as they approached the bank of elevators, “Is it alright if Blaine and I take the stairs?”

Alex gave them another knowing glance. Blaine couldn’t miss the smirk on his face as he said, “Of course not. I approve of your dedication to your cardio routine.”

Blaine couldn’t keep the smile off his face at those words. He knew that there was a much deeper level of approval given there, even if he wasn’t sure entirely what was being approved of. “Thank you.”

Kurt tugged on his arm, pulling him into the stairwell. As soon as they were inside and the heavy door slammed shut behind them, Kurt spoke up, “I’ve been wanting to talk just to you for hours now.”

Blaine climbed up to take a seat on the stairs, right at the first landing. He patted the ground beside him in invitation. “I’ve been feeling the same way. We were interrupted at a pretty crucial moment before. I wanted you to know that I meant what I said. It wasn’t just the heat of the moment.”

“It wasn’t?” Kurt let his insecurity show in his tone as he sank down beside Blaine. “I wouldn’t blame you if it was.”

“Truth be told, I’ve had a crush on you for awhile now.” Blaine stared down at his knees as he admitted that fact. “Months. Maybe years. But since I’ve really gotten to know you it’s turned into more than that. I don’t want to sigh over YouTube videos. I want to hold your hand and take you on dates and kiss you goodnight. I want to be your boyfriend, if you’d have me.”

Kurt reached his hand out to take Blaine’s. “I want all of those things. Boyfriends?”

“Boyfriends.” Blaine couldn’t keep away the huge grin that was spreading across his face as he stood, pulling Kurt up by their joined hands. “We should get back before this takes too suspiciously long.”

* * *

 

By the time they actually got to their shared hotel room, Burt and Alex were waiting outside the door with a white bakery box and a handful of plastic forks. Sitting around a hotel room and digging in to the cheesecake in the box might not have been the way that Kurt had always pictured celebrating a victory, but at the moment, he couldn’t think of a better one.

By 12:30, Alex and Burt had left, with promises of meeting up for lunch to celebrate the next day. “Probably pizza,” Blaine had whispered into his ear.

It was now almost one, but neither of them had been able to sleep, not with that much adrenaline in their systems. Instead, by unspoken agreement, they’d both changed into pajamas and turned on Bravo.

The only way it differed from a typical night in their apartment was that instead of taking his own chair, or bed in this case, Kurt found himself instead on Blaine’s bed, curled up against the side of his new boyfriend.

“I can’t wait to take you out on a proper date.” Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, pulling the other man against his chest.

“You’d better.” Kurt tilted his head up to get a quick look at Blaine’s face. “I expect to be courted.” He hesitated a moment and then added, “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you earlier that I wish you’d managed to medal, too.”

“I was happy enough with fourth,” Blaine said. “It proved I deserved to be there. I’ll have plenty of time to be standing right beside you. I’m not sorry at all. I still feel like I came out of tonight a winner.”

**  
**


End file.
